Ministry Mess
by wekfnwekonf
Summary: The marriage law has been reintroduced to Wizarding Britain.  Hermione Granger is one of the first to be paired...to a Slytherin.  Another Slytherin has been forced with a Ravenclaw, but Draco Malfoy is a Veela and a Veela cannot choose his mate...
1. Chapter 1

The marriage law has been reintroduced to Wizarding Britain. Hermione Granger is one of the first to be paired...to a Slytherin. Another Slytherin has been forced with a Ravenclaw, but Draco Malfoy is a Veela and a Veela cannot choose his mate...

**I have never read an arranged marriage fic, but I know that there are plenty of them so I wanted to create my own. However, I want to do this with a twist, therefore I am also using the Veela storyline, another plot that has been used a lot.**

_**Just to clear up this is not a canon story, there was a war during their sixth year, obviously they triumphed but people who died in the books didn't die in this, if I mention them it will be obvious :)**_

**Short chapter at first, they do get longer :)**

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_**MINISTRY MESS?**_

_Outrage has followed after the Ministry's extremely interesting announcement yesterday afternoon and the Ministry of Magic has been flooded with many owls expressing people's rather colourful opinions. Unfortunately for some, it has been made explicitly clear that that the law still stands. Ah, unlucky._

_Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, seems to have been sitting on this new law for some time and yesterday, thirtieth August, he released the long awaited news; the marriage law has been reintroduced to Wizarding Britain. It seems that the Ministry's officials have come to the conclusion that magical blood is dying, hence why they're insisting that Pure Bloods marry Muggle Borns. Looks like you're only safe if you're a Half Blood! _

_What seems to be the worst news, they Ministry have decided that the youth of today will be the first examples to be made. So that means, you guessed it, the first Muggle Borns and Pure-bloods to become of age at Hogwarts will be subject to the marriage law. I can hear the horrified parents from here. Even the... _Rita Skeeter article cont. on page 5.

Hermione threw the Daily Prophet down in disgust, knowing full well that the new law affected her. She flung herself back onto her pillows and took a deep breath, willing herself not to cry. Her life had been determined on the whim of someone with the same name as confectionery! The tears escaped from her eyes, staining her powder blue pillow case. Her choked sobs became increasingly louder.

There was a light knocking on her door and it opened slowly.

"Hermione honey?" Her mothers soft voice called, stepping fully into the room as she saw her crying daughter. "Whatever is the matter?" She immediately ran over to her side and leant on the floor next to her.

Hermione gestured angrily towards the crumpled paper. Jean Granger picked it up questioningly and smoothed the front page. Her face fell as she quickly read on and she gasped as she reached the mention of Hogwarts. Tears sparkled in her eyes, threatening to fall; her only daughter could not be forced into a marriage, it just wasn't fair!

"Oh sweetheart!" She dropped the paper and bundled Hermione up in her arms, soothing her quietly.

"What am I going to do mum?" She cried. "I'm one of the oldest!"

"It's all going to be fine, it's all going to be fine." Jean repeated, not truly believing it but trying to convince her daughter.

Hermione slowly fell into an uneasy sleep, exhausted from her crying. Her mother gently pushed her back onto the bed and covered her with a blanket. She closed the curtains to hide the morning sun and exited the room, pausing momentarily at the doorway to look at her sadly.

"What are we supposed to do?" Jean wept as she showed her husband the newspaper. He finished it and said nothing, merely taking her in his arms. She broke down just as Hermione did and cried into his shoulder.

"There's nothing we can do, is there?" She said tearfully. He shook his head and hugged her even tighter.

It was with heavy hearts that they completed Hermione's packing that day, her trunk a reminder that she would be leaving the following day and they would not be going through the ordeal together. Hermione drifted off to sleep that night after hours of trying, her eyes red and bloodshot, her nose stuffy and blocked and her dreams full of cruel husbands and lots of unhappy years ahead of her.

**#**

**Like I said, this is a just short chapter but I have already written most of the second chapter and it's much longer than this :)**

**I really hope you like this! :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot in my mind.**

_08/08/11, riots started in London, a day later they have moved to Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, people are looting, hurting innocents and destroying their own cities. My heart goes out to the victims. xoxo_


	2. Chapter 2

_HRLkittycat_** – first reviewer! Thank you :) and thank you to those who favourited/alerted my story :) Hope you keep reasing!**

**I decided to get this chapter up soon seeing as my first chapter was so short :)**

#

"Hermione?"

Hermione looked up immediately and saw Harry and Ron standing in front of the gleaming red train, calling out urgently to her.

As soon as she reached them, they pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

"It'll be okay Hermione." They said, in what they thought were reassuring voices.

"Okay?" She cried, "_**No**_, it's okay for you two. Harry you're a Half Blood this does not apply to you _**at all **_and Ron you've got until next year to get your head around this! I have nineteen days!"

They looked bemused and unsure as she burst into tears in front of them. Her parents came hurrying over and began to comfort her.

"Come on love, let's get you on the train."

Hermione allowed herself to be lead away from her best friends and to be seated on the train. She waved a tearful goodbye to her parents as the train rolled out of the station. The door slid open and she saw a sheepish Harry and Ron in the doorway.

"Sorry Hermione." They murmured.

"No," she said softly, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have blew up like that, it's not your fault."

They stepped into the compartment and closed the door.

"You never know," Harry said, sitting down next to her, "you might be put with Ron or Neville, at least you get on with them."

Ignoring her own and Ron's blush, Hermione said, "Admittedly that would be better, although I would prefer not to be forced into this at all!"

"You heard about the law too?"

They hadn't noticed the door reopen and when they looked up, they saw Lavender Brown with her best friend Parvati Patil.

"Unfortunately." Hermione replied glumly. There were no longer any hard feelings between Hermione and Lavender, Lavender had got over Ron the year before after a rather quick relationship with Terry Boot and Hermione realised shortly after that she cared more for Ron as brother, as she did with Harry.

"I can't believe this is happening!" Lavender cried. "Just Pure Bloods and Muggle Borns? How is that allowed?"

"They probably think that a Half Blood and a Muggle Born wouldn't pass on enough magical blood." Harry said. "Which is completely ridiculous seeing as Muggle Borns are perfectly all right. Exhibit A." He gestured to Hermione, causing her cheeks to flush.

"I wonder who we'll be forced with." Lavender pondered sadly, taking the empty seat next to Hermione. Parvati sat opposite next to Ron.

Suddenly thinking, Hermione asked, "Will there even be enough people?"

"I don't even know, I am _**not **_marrying someone younger than me." Lavender said in outrage. "Why couldn't I be a Half Blood like you two?" She looked between Harry and Parvati.

"This isn't fair." Ron agreed.

They fell into a disheartened silence, three fifths of the compartment wallowing in self pity. There was a knock on the door and through the glass they could see Neville, Ginny and Luna pulling their trunks, Lavender and Parvati got up to leave, offering them their seats and murmuring that they would see them all later.

"Oh Hermione!" Ginny cried, throwing her arms around her older friend. "Isn't it awful? And so soon for you!"

Hermione gritted her teeth, arranging her petite features into a brave expression, for though she did not feel brave, she was a Gryffindor through and through.

"Maybe it won't last." Hermione said hopefully, "At least then _**you**_ won't be subject to it."

"It definitely won't last." Luna dreamily said, turning the page of her Quibbler.

"It doesn't affect you either way." snapped Hermione. Luna merely continued to read and Hermione began to feel guilty, "Sorry Luna, let's hope you're right."

To distract them from the current situation, Harry struck up a conversation about Quidditch, it was safe to say Hermione wasn't very involved in the talk.

Around lunch time, the kind lunch lady came round pushing the food. "Anything off the trolley dears?"

Harry immediately sprung up before anyone and bought half of the sweets and pastries for them to share.

"Thanks Harry." They all chorused brightly, taking their pick from the large array of food.

The compartment door opened once more and they heard a drawling voice and thuggish laughter, "Oh good, I see Pothead has got our seconds."

"Sod off Malfoy." Ron snarled.

"Don't see why I should, we're in the same boat now." He snapped back, looking disgusted with the words he was saying.

Ron blinked in surprise, as did the rest of the occupants.

"What do you mean Malfoy?" Hermione asked.

He shuddered delicately before turning to her. "Being forced to marry Mud- Muggle Borns. _**They**_," he jabbed his finger in Ron, Ginny and Neville's direction, "might not have a problem with that, but I bet they don't like arranged marriages, I'm betting you don't either."

"Definitely not." Hermione agreed, surprised that she was agreeing with her former enemy, she most certainly wouldn't have if he hadn't have swapped sides in the middle of the war. "But what can we do about it?"

"I don't know." He admitted, running his pale hand through hair that had become even blonder and brighter over the summer.

"So I repeat, _**sod off**_."

Malfoy scowled at him and turned to leave, they could hear the distinct mutter of 'blood traitor' and 'mudbloods' before he left.

Hermione suddenly blanched, "What if I have to marry _**him**_?"

The others paled instantly, hastening to assure her that she probably wouldn't and they wouldn't allow it if she did.

"We'll just insist you marry one of us." Ron said.

Hermione smiled gratefully before suddenly remembering that her and Ron needed to get to a Prefect meeting. Professor McGonagall had personally written to Hermione over the summer explaining how she thought she shouldn't have to deal with the responsibility of being Head Girl, Hermione strongly disagreed but respected her decision to choose Padma Patil. Her friends wisely chose not to mention any mention of this.

They returned shortly and informed everyone that Ernie Macmillan had been made Head Boy.

As it began to get dark, Ginny reminded everyone that they needed to change. Ginny, Luna and Hermione pulled out their robes and shot off to the toilets. Angry conversations could be heard about the new law from the compartments they passed. The Slytherin Pure Bloods were still ranting and complaining, glaring at the three of them as they walked by the second time.

"Granger!"

Hermione turned round and saw Draco Malfoy standing in the doorway looking very unsure and confused.

"Yes?" She raised an eyebrow.

His mouth opened and closed, finally managing to say, "I don't know why I called you then."

Hermione rolled her eyes and continued walking. He stepped back into his compartment truly bemused, the other Slytherins staring at him with wide eyes.

"What was that all about?" Blaise Zabini asked in shock.

"Shut up." Malfoy snapped.

Outside in the corridor, Ginny was asking Hermione exactly the same thing.

"I have no idea." She replied, as shocked as Ginny was. "Don't think he did either to be honest."

They thought about the strange incident in silence as they made their way to the compartment and were greeted by Ron balancing on his head.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked slowly.

He was struggling to reply so Ginny merely pushed him over. He fell to the floor with a crash and everyone erupted with laughter.

"I was trying," he said angrily, picking himself up off the floor, "to show Harry and Neville the easiest way to get rid of hiccups."

"I think that would be using the hiccup potion..." Hermione replied, still laughing.

Ron flushed red and sat back down.

The rest of the journey passed without any further incidents and soon the train was pulling into the dimly lit station.

The familiar voice of Hagrid could be heard over the heads of all the students and they all beamed brightly as they saw him.

"I'll speak to yer all later." He called, before shouting out to the first years.

They made their way to the carriages, all visibly shaken that they could see the Thestrals.

"Ooo, I wonder what will be for dinner." Ron wondered happily, breaking their silence. They all glanced at him and cracked a smile; _good old Ron_.

The carriages came to a stop in front of the magnificent castle and they stumbled out, still staring up in awe after all these years.

"Hurry up then Granger, we don't have all day." Malfoy shouted from behind them.

Hermione spun on her heel to look at him, anger in her eyes. He seemed to be blinking in surprise.

"Come on Hermione, he's not worth it." Ron said, pulling on her arm.

"Hoping you'll be paired together?" Malfoy scoffed.

"Much rather him than you Ferret." she shot back. She grinned triumphantly and carried on walking as he scowled at her.

"I can't wait for this years sorting." Hermione said, as they entered the Great Hall. "I'm looking forward to the new Gryffindors."

People stared when they crossed the room to get to their table, everyone knew the parts they had played in the war last year, everyone was extremely grateful.

When all of the students had been seated, Professor Flitwick led the scared first years towards the stool in front of everyone. All eyes were drawn to the dirty old hat on said stool and suddenly it began to sing from a rip.

The first years watched is, amazed. They listened intently as the hat described all of the four houses and their traits. Flitwick began to call the names.

Hermione cheered with her fellow Gryffindors as more people joined them at the table.

"Congratulations to the new students!" McGonagall called, standing up and clapping politely. "I would like to welcome you all to Hogwarts and I hope you all feel at home. Some announcements," she continued in her no nonsense manner, "the forest is explicitly forbidden, no magic between classes and use of any Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes in corridors will result in detention."

Laughing quietly, Ron said to Harry, "I'll have to tell Fred and George that."

"Now, I am sure everyone has heard about this new marriage law," her lips pressed together tightly, "Unfortunately, this does affect our seventh years. We hope that you can get through this..._**situation**_ in a mature and adult way." Her voice softened, "We understand that it will be hard for you but we will be here every step of the way if you need us at all." Her eyes seemed to travel in Hermione's direction, the teacher had always had a soft spot for the brightest witch of her year. "With that said, enjoy the feast!"

The food magically appeared on the plates in front of them and the first years watched transfixed, everyone tucked in and piled more than enough of the delicious food onto their plates.

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**Rather a long chapter, thanks for reading! :) Seems a bit rushed to me but I'm just trying to get it started, chapter three should have it started properly :)**

_Love and thoughts to the UK riots victims xoxo_


	3. Chapter 3

_**This is not a canon story, there was a war during their sixth year, obviously they triumphed but people who died in the books didn't die in this, if I mention them it will be obvious**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own the world, the characters or the awesomeness of Harry Potter, that right goes to the amazing JK Rowling.**

**Warning: This story had a swear word in it :O**

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Hermione woke early the next morning, excited for the start of the new term. Lavender stirred sleepily as Hermione stepped out of the bathroom, already dressed and prepared for the day.

"How do you get up at this time?" She groaned at her, rolling over and shoving a pillow over her head.

"Easily." Hermione laughed in reply. "Now come on, you can't be late on your first day." She gathered together her bag and books, straightened her robes and headed down to breakfast.

"...deal is, it's just a toad."

Hermione sat down to hear Dean talking to a frantic Neville.

"But he's _**my **_toad, I've had him since first year!"

Hermione rolled her eyes, she remembered the first of September oh so many years ago when she had helped the poor boy to find Trevor. She reached over and grabbed some toast and began covering it in marmalade. She was just taking a swig of pumpkin juice when Harry and Ron dropped themselves into the seats next to her and opposite her.

"Morning." Harry said, reaching over and picking up food blindly with tiredness. Ron merely grunted at her, shovelling food into his gaping mouth. Hermione shook her head and replied with a 'good morning' to Harry.

Gradually, the Great Hall got steadily louder as more and more students arrived for breakfast. Hermione, having already eaten, was waiting patiently for her copy of the Daily Prophet to arrive with the rest of the owls.

There was a great flutter of wings as the owls entered the Great Hall, she looked up and caught her paper, not receiving any other post.

There were several owls flying around somebody on the Ravenclaw table, the girl seemed to be wearing a muggle birthday ribbon and different people kept on calling out to her. Hermione recognised her as Lilith Moon, a good friend from her Arithmancy class.

It suddenly dawned on her what that little birthday ribbon meant. Lilith was of age. Hermione watched her slit open another heavy envelope. Her face gradually clouded over as she read on, tears evident even from the distance of two tables.

On the table behind her, a boy was opening up a very similar letter.

The Hall fell silent as a strangled cry echoed around them from the Slytherin table. Lilith turned round and saw Draco Malfoy staring at her in shock. She raised her letter and burst into silent tears. No one around seemed to realise that there was a problem with Lilith, they were all focused on Malfoy.

"Oh my goodness." Hermione breathed. "Lilith has been paired with Malfoy."

Ron dropped his toast, proving the shock of the situation.

"Poor girl." said Harry sympathetically.

"I think I'll just go and speak to her." she said, picking up her bag and heading over to the Ravenclaw table. Reaching her, she said her name softly. Lilith glanced at her and flung her arms around her, weeping into the crook of her neck. Hermione rubbed her back and whispered soothing words.

"I knew it was coming b-but-" she broke off in sobs again.

"Shh." Hermione whispered, "It's all going to be okay."

"But it's Malfoy!"

"I'm not too happy about this either." A voice drawled. "Think I want to be attached to some Arithmancy freak for the rest of my life?"

"Malfoy, you are also an 'Arithmancy freak' as you so called put it." Hermione reminded him sharply. She something flicker in her eyes, not quite understanding what it was

"I was trying to joke with," he paused and managed to spit out, "_**my fiancé.**_"

They both paled at the word and Lilith collapsed into her seat, her Ravenclaw friends reaching out to comfort her with their touch.

"Why are you even over here Granger?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him. "Not that it affects you, but Lilith happens to have become one of my close friends after our classes merged."

"So you'd better be nice to her." Lilith said shakily, speaking for the first time since Malfoy had arrived. He scowled but said nothing.

Professor Flitwick walked up to Lilith and handed her a timetable. "Can I be right to assume you have received your pairing?"

She nodded glumly.

"I shall inform Professor McGonagall so she can organise your new arrangements." He continued to hand out timetables.

"New arrangements?" Malfoy and Lilith repeated.

Hermione looked blankly back at them, shrugging her right shoulder. Glancing back to the Gryffindor table, she said, "I'd best go and get my timetable. I'll speak to you when we have Arithmancy, you'll be okay." She gave her a quick, reassuring hug before leaving.

"I never realised that you and Granger were so close." Malfoy said thoughtfully.

"Why would you? You don't care for mudbloods like us." she snapped in return, grabbing her bag and exiting the hall. He watched her leave, making no effort to follow her or to put things right.

"Is she okay?" Harry asked as he passed Hermione her timetable.

"Not really but," she added with a hollow laugh, "would you be if you had to marry Malfoy?" She looked at the parchment in her hand. "Oh good, I've got Arithmancy second, I can speak to her then."

Looking at his own timetable, Ron suggested that they'd better get to Potions.

#

Hermione sat at her usual table in Arithmancy and waited patiently for Lilith to arrive.

"Hey hun." Lilith greeted, setting her bag down and pulling out the chair next to Hermione.

"How you holding up?" Hermione asked kindly.

She lifted her hands half heartedly, "My birthday's been ruined by an arranged marriage to someone who discriminates the most about muggleborns, I couldn't be better."

Hermione laughed softly. "Stop being so sarcastic. You know things will work out in the end, you might even grow to love each other."

At Lilith's rather long, loud bark of laugh, Hermione said, "Well at least _**like **_each other, if he stopped being such an arse."

The whole classroom fell silent and turned to face Hermione.

"Did you just _**swear**_?" Ernie Macmillan said in shock, echoing everyone's thoughts.

"I must admit," Lilith piped up, "the moment did call for it, she was insulting Malfoy."

"Well that's just typical."

They turned round and saw Malfoy standing in the doorway.

"The first time anyone hears Granger swear," he continued, "and she's insulting her friends fiancé."

"Stop calling me that." Lilith snapped.

He smirked at her and dropped into the empty seat at their table.

"What do you think you're doing?" She hissed.

"Sitting near my _**fiancé**_, because, unlike some, I'm trying to make an effort."

Crossing her arms and turning her head, Lilith pursed her lips and ignored him childishly.

"Fine!" He shouted, knocking over the ink that had been set up on their desk. As he made to go back to his original seat, he brushed past Hermione. His skin felt strangely warm to the touch and she jumped back. She began to clear up the ink.

"You can go now." Lilith said snottily, noticing that Malfoy was still standing there, as though frozen. He blinked and went back to sit with Theodore Nott.

"I'm supposed sleep next to _**that **_every night for the rest of my life?" Lilith stared down at the ink that Hermione had missed as it slowly seeping into the table. "I can't do that."

"I apologise for my lateness, extremely unprofessional of me." Professor Vector said, striding to the front of the classroom, immediately starting the lesson and effectively ending any conversation.

As she set the class to work, Lilith became calm once more, Arithmancy always soothed her, one of the reasons her and Hermione got on so well. At the start of their sixth year, Arithmancy classes had almost halved in size due to people failing their O.W.L's, the Professors decided to merge all the students from different houses into one class. Lilith and Hermione had got on almost immediately, bonding over a particularly difficult essay which they struggled with late into the night in the library.

Taking a deep breath and bracing herself for a famous Lilith Moon outburst, Hermione asked, "So when does the whole...arrangement take place?"

She didn't look up from her parchment but it was obvious she wasn't paying any more attention to it.

"The letter said we had a year." She said quietly.

Hermione inwardly sighed with relief, when she got her letter, that would give her more time to get used to the idea.

"At least you have time to get to know each other."

"I don't want to get to know him!" She shouted, earning herself a rather cold glare from Professor Vector.

Malfoy obviously knew that it was about him and could be seen whispering to Nott. Hermione rolled her eyes, not quite sure but, thinking that he was probably talking about Lilith, and not in a fond way.

"Like I want to get to know her either." He muttered to Nott. "I mean, I don't want my bloodline tainted at all, but if magic's running out, fair enough, but her!" He scoffed. "Much rather have Granger."

Nott looked as shocked as Malfoy felt.

"Did I really just say that?"

Nott nodded.

"I didn't mean to say that..." He said slowly. "I don't know what came over me."

"You seem to be having lots of mishaps to do with Granger." said Nott slyly.

Malfoy scowled, swiping at his arm.

"Besides," Nott added, hoping to reassure his friend, "Moon's not that bad, course, Granger's prettier and cleverer but you could learn to live with Moon."

"But I don't _**want **_to, I want-"

Nott smirked and with a wink, said, "Granger apparently."

Professor Vector sent them both to Professor Slughorn for scrapping in class.

#

**Lilith Moon is an actual character in Harry Potter, although her first name is never mentioned, I'm only using what her Wikipedia page suggests could be her name and I decided that she belonged in Ravenclaw :)**

_There weren't many people left now._

"_Moon"... , "Nott"... , "Parkinson"_

**Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, Chapter 7 – The Sorting Hat.**

Hope you liked this chapter :) unfortunately, I feel like this chapter is also rushed, hopefully the rest won't be but I apologise if they are. If you see any mistakes, or have any constructive criticism, please let me know! I just want to improve my writing :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Over 1000 hits! Thank you, you guys are the best! :)**

**Thanks for all your reviews! They really encourage me to write :)**

**This chapter is written in a different format to how I normally write, I'm not too sure whether I like it but hopefully it's okay.**

**Enjoy! :)**

Hermione decided to do something, she couldn't allow Lilith to be unhappy for the rest of her life.

"You'll have to sort things out eventually." She had said.

"Then he can come to me." Lilith had replied.

"He has." Hermione had reminded.

It had actually came as quite a surprise, Hermione recalled, to see Malfoy approaching Lilith at breakfast (although his reluctant expression was to be expected) and to be the one sent away. It was then he came to Hermione.

"Granger," he had drawled, "I need your help."

To say that Hermione was shocked was an understatement and her face showed that.

"_**My **_help? Whatever for?"

Malfoy scowled at her, as if annoyed that she was asking questions. "Yes _**your**_ help. You understand Moon more than those Ravenclaws ever can."

"What about Padma Patil?" She knew that those two were the best of friends, much like Parvati and Lavender.

But Malfoy had shook his head. "She's too close to Moon, she doesn't understand that we need to get along. You do."

So, to the amazement (and horror) of Harry and Ron, she had agreed to help him.

"That's sorted then." He then stuck out his hand for her to shake.

She hesitated before she even thought about shaking his hand, they hated each other, but for Lilith's sake, she placed her tiny tanned hand into his big pale one, the overpowering heat occurring once again.

"You can let go now..."

Malfoy blinked and looked down at their still grasping hands, he let go immediately and gave a curt nod before turning back to his table.

"Library, eight o'clock." He had said, without turning round.

That was her first meeting with Draco Malfoy, former enemy, new acquaintance. She had been early, he had been bang on time.

"So," he began, "how are Moon and I supposed to get along?"

"Well," Hermione had said, taking the book he was annoyingly flicking through and setting it down next to her, "you could start by calling her by her forename."

"But that would mean she's won!"

"Quiet Mr Malfoy," Madam Pince chastised.

Malfoy lowered his head as Hermione whispered, "You're having meetings with her friend to get tips on how to get along with her, is _**she**_ doing that? _** No**_. She's already won you idiot."

"Is that your new hobby? Insulting me."

"I do find it pretty fun." She had admitted with a smirk.

"Back to getting along with M-" he stopped himself just in time and spat out, "Lilith."

Hermione grinned. "First step is done. Second step... be nice."

"Be nice? I'm already being nice to her you buck toothed know-it-all."

Pointedly ignoring the blatantly untrue 'buck toothed' comment, she said, "To everyone. She'll see that you're changing."

Hermione watched his silver-grey eyes widen and what little colour he had, drain from his cheeks.

"Nice...to everyone?"

"Yep." She popped the P.

"Even you, Pothead and Weasel?"

"Yep."

It was then he leant forwards and placed his head in his hands, muttering, what seemed to be prayers, to himself.

The next day turned out to be one that people would remember for a long, long time.

"Good morning Granger, you don't look awful today."

It wasn't exactly a compliment, but it was the fact that Malfoy seemed to be genuine which astounded the crowd in the Great Hall. Even the teachers had stopped and stared.

Hermione, shocked into silence, had merely nodded and continued walking to the Gryffindor table. Malfoy followed her lead and sat down at the Slytherin table.

Lilith wasn't the only one left wondering what had happened, the whole Hall was buzzing with conversation, _the muggle hating Draco Malfoy had willingly complimented Hermione Granger!_

Theodore Nott raised his eyebrows at his best friend.

"Second step, be nice to everyone, including Granger." He repeated.

"You're in trouble mate."

Malfoy looked at him questioningly. "And why is that?"

"You're starting to like Granger." He replied in a matter of fact tone.

"Like Granger?" He scoffed in return. "Don't be stupid, I've hated her since first year."

"When you were a prejudiced prat. You've changed since the war, your Mother and I were discussing it."

Malfoy leaned back, looking at his friend. "You've been discussing things with my Mother?"

Nott nodded.

"_**When**_?"

"When you take too long choosing what to wear before Quidditch." He said simply.

"That's just weird..."

Which was exactly Lilith's response as Hermione explained what Malfoy had wanted when he came to her the day before.

"I know it's weird but he's making an effort like you wanted," Hermione had said reasonably, "now I think you should do the same."

Reluctantly, Lilith said okay.

That was how, the following evening, Hermione ended up being sat awkwardly between Malfoy and Lilith in the library, trying to make conversation.

"So what do you like to do in your spare time Malfoy?"

"Oh no, no, no no." Lilith said, shaking her head at Hermione, "If I have to call him... _**Draco**_, so do you."

Hermione scowled at her and Lilith looked satisfied.

"Fine." Hermione replied. "Because I'm _**mature**_, so what do you like to do in your spare time, _**Draco**_?"

"Quidditch, read, sleep."

"Stop being deliberately awkward Mal – did you say you like reading?"

He smirked at her. "Yes _**Hermione**_, you're not the only educated one in this place."

"Well what kind of things do you read then?"

"Anything I can get my hands on to be honest, Mother's always buying new books for the library so I usually have lots of new material."

"You have a library? Wow... that is amazing."

"It is pretty amazing, books to the ceiling, I have to ask the House Elves to help me most of the time, but they don't really like going into the library because otherwise I read to them."

"You read to your House Elves? Why?"

"Just because they're practically slaves, it doesn't mean their education should suffer. I'd have thought you of all people would understand that."

"No, I do, I really do. I started an organisation in fourth year for the well being of House Elves, it disgusts me how some people treat them!"

"Same here, I know, you're shocked, but I'm not all bad."

"I'm starting to see that now."

They turned in shock as Lilith coughed for their attention.

"Oh _**good**_, you two get along. I don't see how this has helped. Thank you for trying Hermione but I think I should get going now." She grabbed her bag and stormed out of the library, leaving Hermione and Draco staring at her in shock.

Hermione sighed and put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry, I've messed up, I was meant to be helping the both of you."

Laughing lightly, he replied, "It's not your fault Hermione."

With a strange feeling in her stomach (which she put down the to the ease with which he had said her name), she said, "It is, I said I'd help you two get along but I've only managed to see that you're an okay person."

He snorted in the politest way possible. "Is that a compliment Hermione?"

"I suppose it is, just repaying you for this morning." She had then stuck out her tongue childishly whilst picking up her bag. "I'll see you later... Draco." She left the library.

He watched her leave, noticing how the candlelight reflected on her hair, bringing out the copper undertones. She had a hurried walk, like she knew exactly where she needed to be and no one was going to stop her, he had seen this walk everyday before lessons, always thinking it was pathetic, never realising that it was merely because she had goals and would always get what she wanted. Her left shoulder was dragged down, presumably from the amount of books she always carried and her little hand was clasped tightly around the bag strap, stopping it from falling as she walked.

"Mr Malfoy?"

His head snapped round to the librarian.

"I'm sorry, the library will be closing shortly."

Draco nodded. "That's quite all right, I'll just get going now."

"Mr Malfoy?"

Draco looked questioningly at her, tilting his head to the side like he always did whilst curious.

"It has been arranged for you to marry Miss Moon, it will not do either of you any good for you to fall for Miss Granger."

He had stayed frozen in shock for several minutes before realising that the library was closing.

Fourteen long days later, after many awkward library visits, Lilith finally managed to hold a civilised with Draco. Hermione had really been getting along with him and was constantly trying to convince Lilith that he was actually a rather nice guy.

Hermione and Draco had even met up without Lilith, something that Harry and Ron just couldn't understand.

"His Mother had sent him some books, he thought I might like to have a look at them." She had explained. They quickly shut up after that, for fear she might make them read them.

Realising that her friend quite liked him, Lilith thought that there must be something there.

"So Draco, how's Quidditch going?"

Hermione and Draco's jaws dropped and they stared at her in shock. He recovered first and replied, "Oh, it's good, the rain's putting a downer on things lately but I suppose if you can't fly in the rain, you're screwed."

She laughed politely, not knowing how else to reply.

"Have you managed to complete that Arithmancy essay yet?" He asked.

This prompted a rather full conversation so Hermione decided that it was safe for her to leave, she had done it, she had helped Draco with what he asked for. She should have felt satisfied, how she always felt after helping people who needed her, so why was she so disappointed?

Draco's eyes had followed her as she left the library, disappointment evident until Lilith asked him a question about the Potions essay which had been set for both classes.

Hermione smiled as she sat back in the common room with Harry and Ron.

"You made progress then?" Harry asked, quickly looking up from the game. He shouldn't have done, the cards exploded, singing his eyebrows.

Laughing heartily at his lack of eyebrows, Hermione said, "Yes actually, when I left, they were talking."

Their eyes widened and she nodded in agreement. Taking pity on Harry, she returned his eyebrows (much to Ron's disappointment) and announced that she was off to bed.

The next day, Lilith didn't even need Hermione to issue a meeting, at lunch she had walked up to Draco herself and suggested going to the library that evening. As soon as she'd gone, Draco looked up at the Gryffindor table, hoping to catch Hermione's eye and get her approval for the interaction he had just had. He got a shock as he saw Hermione shouting at her friends and running out of the Hall, tears streaming down her face.

He immediately dropped his bread roll and hurried after her.

"Hermione!" He called. Seeing her hair whip around a tapestry, he ducked underneath and followed. He finally caught up with her when she hit a dead end and ended up sliding to the floor.

"What ever's the matter?" He asked, sitting down on the cold floor next to her.

She merely shook her head at him, her eyes swimming with tears.

"Come on, we're friends right? You can tell me."

Hermione bit her lip, unsure. He stuck out his bottom and used the pout which had made many girls fall at his feet, Hermione giggled at him and he grinned triumphantly.

After several minutes of silence, Hermione finally said quietly, "It's my birthday tomorrow."

Still not understanding the problem, he asked in confusion, "Then why are you upset? That's a happy occasion, you're going to be-" he paused, it suddenly dawning on him, "you're going to be seventeen, you're going to be of age."

Hermione nodded, fresh tears threatening to fall.

"Come here." He put out his arm and pulled her close to him. "It's all going to be okay, I promise."

#

**Hope you liked this! Over 2000 words :O that's rather a lot for me :P**

**Thanks for reading, let me know what you think/how to improve/any mistakes! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks for your reviews!**

**Enjoy!**

**#**

_She is running, her heart beating inhumanly fast. She has the sense that someone is chasing her although she can't see anyone. She turns her head, hoping to spot the possible pursuer. She trips, falling into a heap on the floor. Tears fall, there is mad laughter, arms reaching down to her. She's scared, she doesn't know what's going to happen. An out of focus face looms in front of her, the light reflecting unnaturally on the white teeth. She can't see who it is, she just knows that they're causing the fear inside her heart..._

Hermione woke up and brought a hand to her warm head, she felt a light sweat underneath her fingers. She wasn't one to normally have nightmares, things had to be rather tense. Her subconscious merely confirmed what her mind had been thinking.

The chorus of 'happy birthday Hermione!' from Lavender and Parvati snapped her out of it and she arranged her face into a smile. They thrust their presents (several items from the WonderWitch section of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes) at her and watched her intently as she opened them, she thanked them and smiled brightly.

"I'm just going to have a shower." She told them, grabbing her robes.

When she finally came out of the bathroom, after a shower and a cry, Lavender and Parvati had left and Ginny was sitting on her bed, clutching a gift wrapped in red and tied with a gold ribbon.

"Happy birthday!" She threw the present onto the bed and flung her arms around Hermione's neck, effectively cutting off her oxygen supply.

"Thank you Ginny!" She managed to choke out. Ginny stepped back and mumbled an apology at which Hermione laughed at.

"Here!" Ginny shoved the present into her hands.

Hermione sat down on the bed and proceeded to very slowly untie the ribbon. She could sense Ginny getting impatient and laughed as she took over and ripped off the paper.

"Patented Daydream Charms and love potions?" giggled Hermione, "Who do you think I am?"

"A girl can never have enough fun." Ginny replied with a wink.

"Thank you Gin." Hermione said looking closely at the boxes.

"Come on then, let's get to breakfast, I'm sure Harry and Ron are dying to give you their presents."

Hermione allowed herself to be dragged from her dormitory and down to the Great Hall. Several Gryffindors and seventh years from other houses called out to her on the way, wishing her a happy birthday and she smiled at them all, despite the heaviness of her heart.

"There you are Hermione!" Harry said loudly, "Wondered what took you so long. Happy birthday!" He gave a tight hug and a small gift. She took off the paper and cried with delight at the new Ancient Runes book.

"Oh thank you Harry!"

"Happy birthday Hermione." Ron said, giving her a squishy package. She tore off the paper and a periwinkle blue scarf slipped out. She held up the silky material and let it run through her fingers.

"Thank you Ron, I love it!" She gave him a hug, making him blush slightly.

Seamus and Dean called over and threw her a box of every flavour beans as she was starting her breakfast.

"Thanks you two!"

Hermione had just finished her toast when the foreboding sound of wings entered the Great Hall. She looked up, her chest becoming tight and breathing became difficult. Ginny also looked up and picked up her hand, squeezing it gently, trying to reassure her.

Five or six owls landed in front of Hermione and her friends hastened to take all the parcels and letters from them so they could fly off once more. She focused on the parcels first, unwrapping several more Weasley products and books from other friends and family. Once there were no more presents or cards left to open, she turned her attention to the thick, official envelope lying innocently on the table.

Everybody watched her as she slowly picked it up, turning it over in her hands.

"Just open it, get it over with like a Howler." Ron suggested.

She did as he said but clenched her eyes shut immediately, preventing herself from reading it.

_Stop it_, she thought to herself, _you're being silly, just read the name_.

Cracking open one eye, she scanned it for a name.

_Theodore Nott_.

Her eyes shot open and she looked over to the Slytherin table, sure enough, Nott was sitting reading an identical letter to hers, Draco next to him looking like he was in shock.

"So who is it Hermione?" Ginny asked tentatively.

Their eyes widened as she whispered it, Ron muttering something that sounded strangely like 'bloody Slytherin stealing all the good ones'.

Feeling scared and isolated, she asked, "What do I do now?"

Over at the Slytherin table, a similar conversation was occurring.

"You've got Hermione?" Draco said quietly, looking at his friend.

Nott nodded slowly. "I'm sorry mate."

"Sorry?" Draco laughed once, shakily, "Hermione's just a friend and, anyway, I'm engaged too."

"If that's your story." He looked back down at the later. "How do they decide who goes with who?"

"I think it's just a random choice." A female voice said.

Draco and Nott looked up to find Hermione standing awkwardly by them. Draco beamed at her, patting his robes as though looking for something. Nott smiled shyly at her.

"Seeing as we've not got a 'me' to help us," Hermione smiled in Draco's direction and he laughed, "I'm not quite sure how this is going to work."

"Lilith and I have decided to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow, how about you join us?" Draco suggested.

"Sounds good to me, how 'bout it?" Theodore looked up at her questioningly.

Hermione reluctantly nodded. "Okay."

The bell rang out and she looked back to Harry and Ron.

"I suppose I'd better get going, see you later Draco," he grinned back at her and she added, "Goodbye Nott, I'll see you in Potions." She turned and started walking to the Gryffindor table.

"Hermione?"

She glanced back at Nott.

"Call me Theo."

She nodded with a small smile and continued to walk. Harry and Ron looked up as she arrived again.

"Everything okay?" Ron asked, passing over her bag which she'd left.

"I suppose so, he's seems all right." She paused, before saying, "I'm going to Hogsmeade with him, Draco and Lilith tomorrow, I'd much rather be going with you two."

"Maybe it's for the best," Harry said, "you need to get to know him."

"Mmm." She replied without paying attention. "Let's get to Transfiguration."

#

Hermione managed to go all morning without anybody bringing up the letter, her deathly glare quickly shutting people up when they even thought about mentioning it. It was lunch time in the library when someone finally brought the subject up with her.

"Thought I'd find you in here." A drawling voice said.

Hermione looked up and smiled as soon as she saw Draco. "Hey.

"Are you all right?" He asked quietly, sitting down next to her.

"Oh yes, I'm fine." She replied, her voice unusually high.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Don't lie Hermione."

She sighed, closing her book and placing it on the table. "It's only been a couple of hours, but I already miss my freedom."

"I know what you mean, it does get easier though."

They fell silent, looking anywhere but at each other.

"Will you ever love her?" Hermione asked, after several moments.

Startled, Draco looked at her closely.

"I don't know," he admitted, "I've seen that she's a lovely person but I'm not sure... there isn't that special feeling whenever we touch and if it isn't there now, I don't think it will ever be."

Hermione's heart dropped, what if she could never love Theo?

"But maybe it won't be like that for you." He said slowly, his throat strangely tight.

"Mmm."

"Apart from the whole law thing, how's your birthday been so far?"

Hermione laughed lightly. "Okay considering. Everybody's been lovely, I've got some really nice things."

"Speaking of..." He began rooting through his robes whilst Hermione looked on in confusion. He eventually pulled out a small silver package and held it out to her in triumph.

"Tied with a green ribbon?" She said, raising her eyebrows.

"A thank you would be nice." He pouted.

"Aww I'm sorry, thank you." Hermione untied the dark green ribbon, dropping it down next to him and ripping off the paper.

"It's not much..." He said nervously, waiting for Hermione's reaction. "I just saw it and immediately thought of you."

"I love it Draco, honestly! Thank you." Straight away she hooked the long chain around her neck, letting the small silver book hang down. She looked at it and opened it, wondering whether she'd ever be able to find a photo small enough to fit in it.

"I don't know if you'll be able to fit a photograph in there..."

Hermione laughed, "Did you just read my mind?"

He laughed too, shaking his head. "I guess great minds just think alike."

#

"That's what you're wearing?" Lavender said slowly the next morning, looking Hermione up and down.

"Yes, what's wrong with it?" Hermione had been rather please with her blue cashmere jumper and jeans.

"You may not want to be with Nott, but you are, so you may as well make an effort." She explained, rooting through her own wardrobe and pulling out several items of clothing. Lavender threw them towards Hermione who picked them up with raised eyebrows.

"Go change." She instructed.

Hermione came out of the bathroom, looking down at the floaty green dress that barely came down to her knees.

"I don't wear dresses!" She whined. "Plus, it's _**green**_!"

"You looked stunning at the Yule Ball, everybody said so and of course it's green, your fiancée is a _**Slytherin**_." Parvati said, admiring Hermione in the dress.

Hermione scowled at them both before grabbing her jacket and shoving her feet into the black shoes that Lavender had set out for her.

"Least the shoes aren't silver." She muttered. She walked over to the jewellery box on her bedside cabinet and pulled out the book locket, placing it around her neck, where it contrasted in an annoyingly Slytherin way with the green of the dress.

"Wow Hermione." Ron said as she walked down the stairs, "You're very green and silver."

Harry elbowed him, saying, "You look nice though."

"Blame Lavender." She said simply. "Let's get some breakfast."

Hermione turned heads, _the Gryffindor princess was wearing green! _She glared at anyone who dared to look too long but struggled as soon as she stepped into the Great Hall, everybody stared at her, not quite believing their eyes. Hermione looked towards the Slytherin table and saw Draco smirking at her, she stuck her tongue out at him and proceeded to the other Gryffindors.

After eating, Hermione went to join Draco and Theo to wait for Lilith.

"You look lovely Hermione." Theo said.

"Thank you." She replied with a smile. "Lavender Brown picked it out for me."

"Guess she has a sense of humour then." Theo laughed, indicating the colour.

Lilith arrived shortly after and they made their way past Filch on their way to Hogsmeade. Making the decision for them, Lilith lead the way to the Shrieking Shack.

"I seriously can't believe it's not haunted." She said, looking up at the battered building.

"What do you mean?" Theo asked in confusion.

"Professor Lupin?" She replied.

"The one who was a werewolf?"

"Yes, he apparently used it as a hideout whilst he was at school." She explained. "That's what caused all the noises."

"Huh, I never knew that."

"Guess you learn something new everyday." She said with a laugh.

Draco and Hermione looked at each other and raised their eyebrows at the two in front, Hermione tried to smother her giggles as they turned round.

"Did you know that Hermione?" Theo asked, gesturing to the shack.

"I did actually, Remus Lupin was Harry's fathers best friend." Hermione paused sadly, "He was also an amazing role model for us all, he's left a big hole in our lives."

Theo looked sympathetic. "I lost my aunt during the war."

"Oh no, I'm so sorry." She placed her hand on his arm, not noticing Draco's eyes burning a hole where she touched Theo.

He smiled at her before suggesting that they go to the Three Broomsticks. Whilst walking down, Hermione shivered and clutched her jacket closer to her body, silently cursing Lavender on her outrageous outfit choice, her own outfit was much more suited to the chilly September weather.

"Are you cold Hermione?" Draco asked immediately.

She waved her hand dismissively, "I'm fine."

Theo took off his outdoor robe, passing it to her. "Here, put this on."

She hesitated before taking it gratefully and slipping her arms into the warm sleeves. They entered the warm atmosphere of the Three Broomsticks and Lilith and Hermione went to get a table whilst Draco and Theo got the drinks.

"Hermione is just as great as you said she was." Theo said, as they waited for Madam Rosmerta to get their drinks.

"Yeah she is." said Draco, he took the glass and mug that Madam Rosmerta passed him and turned to their table, setting them down.

As Theo came back, passing Hermione her butterbeer, he looked at Draco in confusion. Draco ignored this and merely drank some of his own butterbeer. Lilith shrugged at Hermione and took a sip of her Gillywater.

Theo struck up a conversation with Hermione about S.P.E.W (which Draco had told him all about) and they were soon in a heated discussion about the House Elves rights. Theo disagreed heartily with her and Draco's points but Hermione was enjoying the debate.

As it got later, Draco looked at his watch, "We should probably get back." He stood up, draining his fourth mug of butterbeer and waited for the others to get up too.

Looking startled, Hermione and Theo also stood up.

"You go ahead," Lilith said, "Hermione and I will catch up, just need a trip to the ladies."

Hermione looked at her in confusion but allowed herself to be dragged towards the bathroom.

"Are you okay Lilith?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," she laughed, "It's not me with the problem."

"Then who?"

"Draco. I've seen the way he's looking at you, and the evils he's been giving Theo." She didn't sound upset about her statements, merely concerned, "If he falls for you that's bad... for all of us, we're all going to suffer five years down the line."

Hermione stared at her with wide eyes as they rejoined the boys, still in shock at what she had just said. They walked back to the castle in silence, stopping in the Entrance Hall to part ways.

Theo picked up Hermione's hand and brought it to face level, no one noticing Draco's face quickly becoming more red. Hermione smiled slightly as Theo gently kissed her hand.

They all turned sharply as they heard a strangled cry and saw Draco falling to the floor, his legs splayed out beneath him.

"Draco!" Hermione cried, wrenching her hand from Theo and running to his side.

#

**Thank you for reading! Hope you like this! **

**Aww, it's Evanna Lynch's birthday today! Happy 20th birthday to someone who seems to be an amazing girl who played an amazing Luna! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the longer wait!**

**#**

_The way she danced, the way she moved towards him, everything she did hypnotised him, drawing him towards her. Something stirred deep inside him and he knew that it wasn't just her magic, he knew that they had a deeper connection. _

_She beckoned him with one finger and, as he stepped forward, took his hand. Her strikingly pale skin contrasted majestically with his tanned complexion. Her eyes sparkled as she lead him away from the people who were looking on, jealousy starting in the pit of their stomachs, their friend had been chosen out of all of them and it was a blow to all of their egos._

_He had never believed in love at first sight or soul mates or eternal partners but he knew, he knew as soon as he saw her that they were going to spend their lives together. They were meant to be._

_They spent all of their time together, they were happy. Most of the time. Sometimes she got angry, extremely angry and he got scared. But that's the price he was willing to pay. Abraxas Malfoy knew what he was getting himself into when he fell in love with Veela. _

"I knew we should have told him." Narcissa Malfoy said in hushed whispers, "Now he's lying here half dead."

"Oh that would have gone down well, wouldn't it?" Lucius Malfoy snapped, he continued sarcastically, "Oh by the way son, you're part Veela and seeing your mate with another can cause death."

Mrs Malfoy rolled her eyes. "We should have told him something, then he would have known the signs of a mate."

"The law changed things, we need to follow it. He has to marry this girl, our family name is still tainted."

Draco stirred in his sleep and Mrs Malfoy immediately rushed to clutch his hand.

"It's okay Draco." She whispered, rubbing the back of his hand.

"Mother?" He croaked.

"Shh Draco, I'm here."

"Veela?"

Mrs Malfoy paled and looked over to her husband, whose eyes were just as wide.

"Mother," he continued quietly, "Explain." He dragged himself painfully into a sitting position and looked his mother in the eye.

"Your-your Grandfather fell in love with a Veela." She said. "Your Father is half Veela and I am his mate."

Showing as much anger as he dry throat would allow, he said, "Why haven't you told me this before?"

"Because we've always thought that you were too young to know, we _**should **_have told you earlier, we know that but when we finally wanted to tell you, the Ministry introduced this new law."

"What's the law got to do with anything?"

"Every unmarried pure blood is bound by law to marry a muggle born, defying this would have extremely serious consequences." Mr Malfoy explained. "Our family still isn't in good favour, you know that."

Draco stayed silent, looking at neither his Mother or his Father.

Mrs Malfoy looked at with tear filled eyes. "We really are sorry love."

"But I don't understand, who's my mate?"

His parents glanced at each other and his Mother spoke softly, "We think it's Miss Granger."

"Hermione?"

She nodded. "Apparently she was in here all day and night until we arrived this morning."

"Really?"

"Yes, Theo left about nine but she stayed."

"Where is she now?" He asked, looking round for her.

"We told her that she needed some breakfast."

Draco's face fell and his heart dropped to his stomach, he fell back onto his pillows. "So what's going to happen now?"

"We don't know." They admitted.

"I'm tired now." He said clearly. "I think you should let me rest."

Taking the hint, they stood up and made their way over to the doors just as they opened. Hermione stood there looking uncertainly in.

"I'm sorry, Draco is feeling tired at the moment, perhaps..."

"No Mother, it's all right, let her in."

Mrs Malfoy looked at him with hurt in her eyes but allowed Hermione to pass her apologetically. Draco's parents left and Hermione hovered near his bed awkwardly, wanting to speak but not quite trusting herself.

"Come, sit." He gestured to the end of his bed and she perched on the edge.

"How are you feeling?" She asked quietly.

"Better now you're here." He paused and then laughed softly with Hermione, putting his head in his hands. "That was so cheesy."

But it was true, his chest didn't feel as tight, his head was clear and he couldn't help reaching out for her hand. She looked startled as he started playing with her fingers but allowed him to with a slight smile.

"Your Mother told me." She said, without looking up. His fingers froze and she could feel his gaze.

"I'm sorry."

Her eyes shot up. "Sorry? What have you got to be sorry for?"

"This is going to cause problems for all of us."

"It's not your fault though, you didn't ask your Grandfather to marry a Veela."

"But now you're bound to Theo by law and me by some freaky deaky magic jazz!"

Hermione raised her eyebrows at him.

"I heard Lilith say it once..." He muttered.

Shaking her head, she continued speaking, "We'll just have to sort something out."

"How?"

"I don't know." Hermione admitted. She watched as his eyes began to droop. "Go back to sleep Draco."

"I don't want to, you might go." He replied sleepily.

"I won't go, I promise." She said sincerely.

He nodded and allowed his eyes to slowly shut.

"You look nice by th-" he fell silent as sleep overcame him.

Hermione smiled fondly at him and looked down at the outfit she had planned to wear the day before. _Maybe I __**had **__chosen the right outfit_, she thought, laughing softly. Draco smiled in his sleep and, though his grip relaxed, his hand did not leave hers.

#

"Hermione?" A voice called the next morning, echoing through the practically empty Hospital Wing, "Hermione?" Footsteps sounded and became increasingly louder as they reached Draco's bed.

The girl looked at the two of them; Hermione was curled up in Draco's arms, her head resting on his chest and soft smiles playing on their lips. Draco's arm twitched but still didn't fall from her shoulders.

"Bloody hell."

Hermione's fluttered open. "Ginny, you've been hanging around your brothers too often."

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."

"That's why you shouted 'bloody hell'?" Hermione asked smiling, raising an eyebrow. She began to sit up and accidentally woke Draco.

His eyes immediately shot open and he looked quickly around. "Hermione?"

"I'm right here." She said soothingly. His eyes gradually became less wide and he relaxed once more.

"Actually Hermione, I was wondering whether I could have a quick word?" Ginny asked, look anxiously between her and Draco.

"Of course," Hermione nodded then turned to Draco, "I'll be right back, I'm just going to be outside, I promise."

He reluctantly let go of her hand as she followed Ginny out and watched her until the double doors closed. He shut his eyes and fell back on to the pillows.

"Merlin's pants Hermione! What's going on?"

Hermione sighed and sat down on a nearby step. "Draco's a Veela and I'm his mate."

Ginny gasped but Hermione ignored her and continued, "He saw Theo kissing my hand and something inside him... erupted you could say, now his emotions are in overdrive and he won't be able to stand being too far away from me."

"But what about the law? You're supposed to marry Nott."

Hermione sighed. "I know, I just don't know how we're going to fix this."

**#**

**Has anyone got into Pottermore yet? I haven't :'(**


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter doesn't really affect the plot, it's mainly to insert a bit of humour into the story... with innuendos. You have been warned. **

**Enjoy!**

**#**

"But are you sure you're okay to leave?"

"Yes Hermione." Draco replied exasperatedly. "Madam Pomfrey said I could leave so I don't see why you should worry."

But Hermione did worry, more than she ever had over a person (and she had spent her school life running around with someone who insisted on confronting Voldemort). She had spent the entire school day deep in thought that Draco was lying in the hospital wing. Ron and Harry kept on shooting her worried glances, having been told everything by Ginny, not happy about it in the slightest. She continued to worry, blaming the stupid Veela. Everything was clear before he came along being all Veela-ish and magnetic.

"But are you _**sure**_?"

"Yes! Now pass me my bag and homework."

She reluctantly passed over his bag and stack of parchments, sighing as she had to help him up off the bed, supporting him as they left the wing. Gradually, as they continued to walk, he stopped leaning on her so much, causing a tiny bit of worry to leave her eyes.

"And where do you think you're going?" She demanded, as he began to turn in completely the opposite direction to the dungeons.

"The library." He said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Hermione was having none of it. "You need rest Malfoy, I'm taking you back to your dormitory."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Malfoy?"

She shrugged at him. "It got my point across."

"But why do you have to go soon?" He pouted.

"Because I am not stepping foot into the Slytherin dungeons." She stated.

He thought for a moment and slyly wheedled, "But being away from you could be bad for my health."

She slapped him lightly on the arm. "Don't be using that against me." But she looked unsure, concerned for him yet determined never to walk into the dungeons.

"Please."

The simple word did strange things to her heart and she felt like she could do the Cha Cha Slide in front of all the Slytherins for him (not that anyone would know what that was of course").

"But you need rest!"

"And I _**would **_have rest, you'd just be with me."

"I'm sorry Draco," she said genuinely, "I just can't go in there, not when so many people are still prejudiced against me."

"But if-"

"No Draco."

He stayed silent, then suddenly, "We'll go to the Gryffindor tower!"

He proceeded to drag her, with great force for someone who had just come out of hospital, in the direction of the tower, ignoring her protests.

"But Draco!" She finally managed to spit out after he stopped in front of the Fat Lady, "I can't just take a Slytherin in there! How do you even know where our common rooms are?"

"I'm a Slytherin, I know everything... Except the password, go on, say it." He gestured to the Fat Lady who was watching the episode interestedly.

"Fine. But if you get lynched, it's not my fault." She turned to whisper the password, not noticing that Draco had leaned forward. She looked back and he blinked at her innocently.

"If they try and lynch me," he said, "I'll just pull the 'wait till my father hears about this' card."

"Which won't work." Hermione replied, as the portrait swung open.

"In that case, I'll go for 'please Gryffindors, I'm ill if I'm away from my Gryffindor Veela mate'."

Silence fell in the common room as they all seemed to spot Draco at once.

He raised his arms in mock surrender. " Please Gryffindors, I'm ill if I'm away from my Gryffindor Veela mate."

"Erm..." Harry said, breaking the silence.

"Malfoy, why don't you go up there and wait while we have a word with Hermione." Ron suggested pointing towards the girls dormitories.

Hermione opened her mouth to speak but Ginny interrupted her, "Good idea, glad you're up and about Malfoy."

Draco smiled at her and began to walk up the stairs. Everybody waited with bated breath as they anticipated the change from stairs to slide...

It didn't come.

He continued to walk all the way up the stairs and open the door labelled 'Seventh Years'. The Gryffindors stared with open mouths for a good minute before Hermione began to speak logically.

"I suppose the founders never expected members from other houses to be in here."

"No," Harry laughed, "I think it's because he's a Slytherin in Gryffindor."

Hermione tutted. "That's what I just said. Now, I should probably go and stop him doing whatever he's doing." She followed Draco's path and opened the same door.

"Well this is awkward..." Ron said, voicing the thoughts of everyone in the common room.

"Well that was awkward!" Hermione cried, throwing the velvet curtains aside and glaring at the figure who was lying on her bed.

"Not really." He replied, inspecting his perfect nails.

"I suppose you're just going to stay there all night." She said in annoyance.

Nonchalantly, he said, "Probably." He reached down for his bag and pulled out a paper bag, offering it to her. "Want one?"

Downstairs, Lavender and Parvati had entered the common room and heard the whispers before heading over to Harry and Ron for the facts.

"So you're telling us," Lavender said, her face gleeful, "that Hermione is up there, _**alone**_, with Draco Malfoy the Slytherin Sex God?"

Ron and Harry nodded and blanched at the nickname whereas Ginny, who was nearby, grinned and mentally praised her female friend.

"We're going up there." Parvati and Lavender said simultaneously, moving immediately.

They got to the top of the stairs and were about to barge in when something interesting made them stop and listen with their ears pressed up to the door.

"That's too big! It certainly won't fit in my mouth." Hermione exclaimed.

Parvati and Lavender exchanged amazed looks, getting even closer to the door.

"Just put it in, it's not going to hurt you!"

"Fine." Hermione's voice became muffled and they couldn't understand what she was saying.

"Just suck on that for a while." Draco ordered.

Parvati and Lavender's eye grew as wide as humanly possible and they glanced at each before focusing back on the voices behind the door. They heard Hermione splutter a bit.

"Don't choke!" Draco exclaimed. "Just swallow it! No, don't spit!"

Hermione started coughing. "How could I choke on that? It was no where near as big I thought it was, it was just that taste! Disgusting."

"You shouldn't have bitten so soon." Draco replied, sounding slightly put out.

"I had to bite it! The movement was doing my head in, I had to keep it in one place."

"You made the sweet stuff come out too soon though!"

"Sweet? It was hardly sweet."

"Everybody else likes it." He said, the girls outside could imagine him saying it with a pout.

"I'm not everybody else."

Lavender and Parvati turned round sharply as they heard footsteps but relaxed as they saw Ginny.

"What-"

They made violent shushing movements at her and she lowered her voice down to a whisper, "What are you two _**doing**_?"

"They are doing some crazy stuff in there."

Ginny immediately leaned closer to the door and listened in with them. They could hear the sound of a trunk opening and a lot of things being moved within it.

"What's this?" Draco asked, obviously showing Hermione something that they couldn't see.

"It's a toy."

There was a loud pop and Draco emitted an 'oh'.

"What do I do with it now?"

"Put it in here – no Draco, don't shove it too hard!"

Ginny's mouth fell open.

"Stop, stop, stop, it might get stuck!" Hermione cried.

"Well what do I do?"

"Twisting it usually makes it go in more."

"That is just creepy." Draco stated. Silently, Lavender, Parvati and Ginny agreed with him.

"I think this had gone far enough." Ginny whispered, knocking loudly on the door.

"Come in!" Hermione called.

Cautiously, Ginny opened the door, ready to clench her eyes shut immediately, the other two followed right behind her.

"Oh." Ginny exclaimed, seeing Draco sat on the bed and Hermione in the chair next to him. Draco seemed to be holding some kind of dolls body in one hand and a rather out of proportion head in the other.

"What's up?" Hermione asked kindly, looking up questioningly at the three girls.

"Er-"

"Erm..."

Lavender took it upon herself to asked the question, "Were you and Malfoy doing dirty things in here?"

Hermione and Draco exchanged wide eyes, crying at the same time, "No!"

"Then what did you have to spit out?"

Hermione pointed to a purple ball on the floor.  
>"Gasari Gobstopper." Draco explained, "Rather an acquired taste it seems."<p>

"They're disgusting!"

"They are not!"

"We'll just be going then..." Ginny said slowly as they began to argue, she grabbed the other two and ran quickly from the dorm.

"Wait! What did you think we were doing?" Hermione suddenly shouted but they had already escaped. She turned to Draco, "_**Now **_it's definitely awkward."

He merely smirked at her.

**#**

**I got my GCSE results today! And I was so pleased that I wrote non-stop to get this chapter out for you all! :) That's why it's not a very serious one :)**

**Hope you liked it! And if any of my readers are from England and just got their results, hope you got what you wanted! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you so much for your reviews, favouriting and alerting! They make me want to write all day for you guys! But, alas, I can't :( I am currently trying (and failing) to decorate my room, plus, my best friend decides she wants to go on EXTREME walks with my other best friend and I. Yes Shaz Bat, I'm talking about you (incidentally, check out her stories, link in my profile :D).**

**Authors Note over :P I know most of you don't read these.**

**#**

"I heard he spent the night there."

"Did you hear about Malfoy and Granger?"

"I wonder what happened?"

"Seriously though, who gets freaky on a Monday?"

Hermione scowled as she heard the whispers the next day, although, perhaps 'whispers' was the wrong word, no one seemed to be speaking discreetly, in fact, it seemed like they wanted her to hear.

"Why do they insist on spreading vicious rumours?" She snapped, turning to Harry, Ron and Draco, expecting them to provide her with a suitable answer. When none of them were able to do more than a shrug, she stormed off and sat amidst Ginny and her friends so that none of them could join her. Harry and Ron rolled their eyes and sat next to Seamus who passed them the bacon plate recognising the 'Hermione's in one of her moods so we're just going to play along and wait for her to calm down before we even try and talk to her' looks.

Draco looked for Theo at the table and, not seeing him, was forced to eat with the rather obnoxious Blaise. He quickly swallowed his toast and exited the Hall, deciding to arrive early to class for once.

The morning classes passed rather slowly as neither Hermione nor Draco had people to talk to. Although, at the start of lunch, Hermione began speaking to both Ron and Harry again after deciding that they had been punished enough.

However, Draco seemed to be having more of a problem. Seeing Theo at the table laden with food, he sat down next to him and smiled.

"Hello." Theo said stiffly.

"What's the matter?" Draco asked, sensing his friends discomfort and instantly being curious.

"Nothing."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "I have been around the opposite sex for too long to know full well that that 'nothing' certainly means that something is indeed the matter."

"Calling me a girl?"

"What's the matter Theo?" Draco repeated, gradually getting more frustrated with the boy.

Theo shook his head. "_**Nothing**_."

"Fine, be like that."

"_**You **_are in a mood with _**me**_?" Theo muttered as though the idea was preposterous.

"What have I done wrong?"

"Like you don't know!" Theo said, just as loud and angry.

"Know what? For Merlin's sake Theo, just tell me!"

Theo stood up, grabbing his bag and swinging his legs over the bench, hissing by Draco's ear, "You told me that you didn't like her so I allowed myself to be attracted to her, then you go and do that! Never thought you could stoop so low."

Draco watched him leave the Great Hall with a gaping mouth, _**what had just happened?**_ He automatically looked towards the Gryffindor table for Hermione. _**Hermione**_. Suddenly it dawned on him what Theo had been talking about. Hermione caught his eye and her expression held concern, silently asking him what was wrong. He shook his head slightly and hoped to convey that everything was okay, that he would explain later on. She didn't understand so, when he shot out of the Hall, she immediately followed him, slipping into the shadows as she heard him angrily shouting his friends name.

"Theo!"

"What do you want?" Theo snarled, spinning round to look at him.

"I want to explain."

"Explain what? It's obvious that you're just another backstabber who lies about feelings and then acts on said feelings for fun."

"I didn't lie about my feelings because I never knew I had them!" He insisted, "I didn't even do anything last night."

"Course you didn't." Theo scoffed. "That's why you spent the night in her room. And how can you not know about feelings?"

"Honestly, we didn't do anything, I was just resting and I needed to be with her."

"Not helping yourself here."

In the shadows, Hermione agreed. Though not one to normally eavesdrop, she didn't think that her appearance would be appreciated at the moment in time, although she did wish Draco would hurry up and explain the whole Veela thing.

"Theo, I didn't know about my feelings until I saw you kiss her."

Theo looked confused. "I didn't ki- oh, her hand? So it's the 'I want what I can't have' situation," he smirked, not too kindly, "Typical Draco Malfoy."

"Just let me explain."

"I've heard enough, like it or not, I've been paired with Hermione and now I'm going to have to have years of unrequited attraction thanks to you sticking your nose in, we could have been happy, but noooo, you have to come in being all 'oh I'm Draco Malfoy and I'm the sexiest man in Hogwarts, you must worship me and want to have my babies otherwise I shall set my too nice to be Slytherin parents on you for eternity, even after death', it's all your fault and-"

"I have Veela genes!" Draco cried exasperatedly, flinging his arms into the air. "But do you really think I'm the sexiest man in Hogwarts?"

"Veela?" Theo asked in shock, completely ignoring the ending question.

"Yes."

"Then why the hell didn't you say that in the first place?"

"I thought everyone knew." Draco said sheepishly.

"Obviously not otherwise I wouldn't just have had that big rant!"

"Which, by the way, was excellent – loved the part about my parents."

"Oh thank you, we've always said they're lovely, except for the whole You Know Who thing..."

"Yeah, but we all have our flaws, I'm just glad they're redeeming themselves."

"So am I, your parents have done nothing but good for the community since and they deserve some credit, the other lads in our year have said-"

But what the other lads in their year had said Draco never found out, for at that moment Hermione had decided to step out of the shadows and cry, "Oh for goodness sake! Can't you get back to the topic at hand?"

They blinked in surprise, simultaneously saying, "Which was?" Before remembering together, "Veela."

"Yes." Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry for being tied to your fiancé with creepy old magic." Draco said, looking Theo in the eyes.

"Sorry for being tied to the only woman you can ever love with creepy marriage laws." Theo said, just as sincerely.

Hermione took on a sarcastic voice, "_**Sorry for talking about you as though you're here**_, oh that's quite all right, I forgive you."

They grinned at her and she shook her head, smiling.

"So what do we do now?" Theo asked, voicing the question that had been on their minds for the past two days.

"I still don't know." Hermione said regretfully.

"Maybe we could suggest a swap of sorts to the Ministry?" Theo said, looking between them. "That way two Pure Bloods would still be marrying muggleborns, it just wouldn't be the ones they arranged."

It sounded like a reasonable idea, however both Hermione and Draco were shaking their heads.

Draco explained, "They would never go for that, there's all sorts of magical documents that have been created, it would disrupt everything and you know how much the Ministry love order. Plus, it would give the impression that people could just 'swap' if they don't like their partners and the Ministry is all about fairness and equality."

Theo looked disappointed but nodded in understanding.

"So basically," he said slowly, "We need there to be no law at all."

"In an ideal world, yes." Draco agreed. "But they've been planning this for at least a year it seems so they're not just going to throw all that away, and of course there's the fact that magical blood _**could **_actually be running out."

"Of course magical blood isn't running out!" Hermione cried. "_**I **_am proof of that. There are no easily traceable links from my family to magical blood yet here I am, brightest witch of our age!"

"Modest as always." Draco muttered to Theo, both of them chuckling quietly.

Hermione pretended not to hear them, her eyes alight with her train of thought. "So if people like Justin Finch-Fletchley and I can get excel at Hogwarts, why should there be any doubt about magic?"

"So you're saying that the law isn't needed?" Theo asked excitedly.

"If you think logically, then no!"

"So there might be a way we can get it abolished?" Draco said quickly.

"If we provided a bloody good case."

"Then that's what we'll do." Draco decided. "We'll get rid of the marriage law."

Their triumphant faces quickly fell as Hermione shrieked, "Holy cricket! We're late for class!"

**#**

**I meant to get some sleep an hour ago! Yet here I am writing this for you, my amazing readers, hope you liked this chapter! I am now off to hit my pillow :)**

**p.s. I know my chapters aren't the longest :( but think about it this way, you get more out of me :)**

**Constructive criticism is welcome! :) **


	9. Chapter 9

**Cancer takes the best of us, including those we are close to; RIP an amazing woman. Thoughts and prayers to those affected by cancer. **

**#**

"So you're telling me, that you're going to fight the Ministry?" Ron asked in shock, staring at Hermione as they sat by the fire. She had just explained the situation which caused her to be ten minutes late for Transfiguration.

She nodded furiously. "It's the only way things will be okay!"

"And are you sure you want to get out one arranged thing and jump into another?" Harry said, looking at her closely, waiting for a genuine answer.

Hermione thought carefully before speaking. "Yes. And anyway, even if I'm still in an arranged relationship, it will give choice back to the rest of you."

Ron smiled. "Count me in."

#

_Dear whomever it may concern,_

"You can't write that! It's too formal!"

"And what would you prefer Ron, _**oi you, read this**_?"

"Now that you mention it..."

"No."

_Dear whomever it may concern,_

_We would like to express our negative thoughts over the new marriage law._

"It's a pile of bull sh-"

"Yes, thank you Harry."

_Dear whomever it may concern,_

_We would like to express our negative thoughts over the new marriage law. _

_Over the past century, marriage has been a completely free decision_

"Not true, proud Pure Bloods are required to marry someone their parents have chosen, it keeps their bloodline pure."

"Not all families are like yours Malfoy."

"Shut up Weasel, you know that my parents have no choice in who I marry."

"S-"

"Shut up both of you."

_Dear whomever it may concern,_

_We would like to express our negative thoughts over the new marriage law. _

_Over the past century, marriage has been a completely free decision (in most cases) and magical blood has always resurfaced, some of the best students at Hogwarts are muggleborn_

"_**Not at all**_ big headed there Hermione."

_Dear whomever it may concern,_

_We would like to express our negative thoughts over the new marriage law. _

_Over the past century, marriage has been a completely free decision (in most cases) and magical blood has always resurfaced, some of the best students at Hogwarts are muggleborn, with no easily traceable links to a magical inheritance. _

_That is why we put it to you; is the marriage law truly needed? We think not and it is really not fair on those who have no choice on who they love. Read up on Veela genes, then you'll see how much this law affects people._

_Have a nice day, yours faithfully,_

_Draco Malfoy (quarter Veela), Hermione Granger (Veela Mate), Theodore Nott (disgruntled Pure Blood), Lilith Moon (frustrated muggleborn), Ron Weasley (ginger Pure Blood) and Harry Potter (The Boy Who Lived)._

"I should not have let the boys sign the names." Hermione groaned as she read through the letter a final time.

"Ah well, it lets the Ministry know that we're still just kids, we shouldn't have to do this sort of thing." Lilith said, rolling up the scroll and sealing it shut with a tap of her wand. "I'll just go and have Daisy take this."

"Daisy?" Draco repeated as Lilith left the Charms classroom.

"Her owl." Hermione explained.

"She called her owl _**Daisy**_?"

"Yep. Leave her alone, she was eleven."

The boys scoffed at her name choice as they gathered together their bags.

"So hopefully we'll hear something back from the Ministry soon but, if not, we'll start phase too anyway." Hermione said, ignoring their childishness.

"I'm so proud of you Hermione." Harry said, leaning over to give her a quick hug.

As soon as he pulled away he disappeared from sight. Draco, unnoticed by any of them, had anger in his eyes and the moment Hermione was clear, he had launched himself at Harry, knocking him to the ground.

"What on earth are you two doing?" Hermione cried, watching the boys rolling on the ground scrapping, their quick Seeker skills causing them to block most blows.

Theo merely stepped closer towards them and pulled them both up by their robes. They both glared at each other, panting, nothing more wrong with them than a hair out of place, which was not unusual for Harry.

"Care to explain?" Hermione asked, her voice dangerously low.

"He was touching you!" Draco shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Harry.

Both Harry and Hermione flushed violently and Hermione snapped, "He's my friend and he was giving me a hug. Get over it." She swung her bag over her shoulder and stormed out of the classroom.

Draco watched her leave before scowling and walking briskly in the opposite direction.

"Well that was entertaining." Theo said cheerfully. Harry glared evilly at him whereas Ron looked as though he was on the verge of laughter.

"Let's go." Harry said. Ron followed him, shooting an amused glance back at Theo.

#

"We have a reply! We have a reply!" Draco sang, pulling Theo towards the Ravenclaw table to grab Lilith and drag them both to the Gryffindor table.

They looked up expectantly and Draco quickly opened the letter, reading aloud;

_Dear students,_

_The law cannot be changed, sorry about the Veela problem._

He disregarded the names at the bottom and stared at Hermione in shock.

"Is that all we get?" Hermione cried in outrage, snatching the parchment from Draco and reading it for herself.

They all sat down at the table and stared at the official looking letter. They didn't notice a girl sitting amidst their group.

"Is that from the Ministry?" She asked excitedly.

Hermione looked up to see Lavender and said, "Yes, but it's not good news."

Lavender's face fell and Hermione noticed a letter in her hands.

"I didn't think you were seventeen until next year." Hermione said in confusion.

"_**I'm **_not, but apparently he is." The tearful girl pointed over to Justin Finch-Fletchley who was staring dumbstruck at the parchment in his hands.

"Justin's lovely," Hermione said, "You'll be able to get along with him until we stop this nonsense."

"But wasn't there some rumour about him and Fred Weasley?"

"That they were gay together and were going to elope in France?" Ron asked nonchalantly as the others looked confused, "Yeah, I started that."

Everybody stared at him.

"What? They both annoyed me on the same day!"

"So it's not true?" Lavender said slowly. Ron shook his head and she sighed in relief.

"If all goes well, you won't have to marry him anyway." Hermione reassured.

"But if I do, at least he's cute."

The others eyes widened as they spotted someone over her shoulder, she turned round and noticed Justin there. Unembarrassed, she smiled brightly at him, wishing him a happy birthday.

"Thanks. Hey, I'm sorry about all this."

Lavender kept smiling. "It's fine, not your fault."

The bell rang out and people began to wander to class. Justin caught Hermione's arm to get her attention.

"Listen, Lavender seems lovely, but I still don't want us both to be forced into this, count me in with whatever you're doing."

Hermione smiled at him. "We got a reply today but it didn't change anything, we plan on doing a petition soon though."

"Arrrgghhh." Justin cried as a body came flying through the air and pushed him to the floor.

"Someone should really keep an eye on Draco." Theo commented cheerfully, watching yet another scrap on the floor.

"Draco Malfoy stop fighting this instant!" Hermione said shrilly. He stood up sheepishly and Justin scowled at him before glaring at Draco and disappearing off to class.

"He was touching you!"

"And if you carry on, you _**certainly**_ won't be touch me." Hermione shot him her most evil look and turned around, trying to hide her blush as she realised what she just said.

"Woah, Hermione's stopping you getting any..."

"Shut up Theo."

**#**

**I got into Pottermore yesterday! It's amazing! But now I'm waiting for CoS to open on it :) Anyone else in Pottermore? Mine is 'SilverSpell5' :)**

_Check the bottom of my page for updates and such :)_


	10. Chapter 10

**I have realised one rather big mistake :( I've said that it's when they come of age that they get their partners, but it's their seventh year so it would be their 18th birthday! I am actually gutted that I've made such a mistake :( but we shall pretend that there is nothing wrong and that I am completely in the right...please? :P**

**#**

"Stop the marriage law! Sign the petition!"

"Hermione," Draco said slowly, "You're never going to catch peoples attention that way."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh yes, and how do _**you **_suggest we catch it?"

Draco smirked and cleared his throat, calling out loudly and clearly, "Hey everybody, guess what! Sign this and I'll take my top off!"

Immediately a whole gaggle of girls came running, dragging their horrified male friends/boyfriends/'girls who had no interest in Draco Malfoy' over to the table to grab the quill and sign.

"Draco, you can't be serious." Hermione said as he removed his cloak and made to take off his shirt.

"Deadly. I promised that lot now." He pointed a thumb at the eagerly waiting crowd.

"The old Draco Malfoy wouldn't stick to his promises." Hermione muttered.

"What?" Draco smirked, "So you want me to be the old Draco Malfoy again?"

"Well no..."

"Well then." He pulled his grey t-shirt over his head and the whole crowd ooh'd and ah'd, even Hermione stopped to stare at his perfectly sculptured chest and broad shoulders. He winked at her and she turned away, scowling and hiding her blush from him.

"I'll get all of Ravenclaw to sign if the Granger girl takes off her top too!" A voice called out of the crowd.

Hermione put her hand on Draco's arm to stop him tearing the boy limb from limb, mouthing 'let me handle this'. She beckoned over to the boy, smiling sweetly and he leaned forward, grinning like a manic as she began to whisper in his ear. Slowly, his face became very pale and his eyes widened. Draco beamed like a fool as the boy nodded fearfully and ran off in what he knew to be the direction of the Ravenclaw tower.

"_**What **_did you say to him?" Draco asked in delight as Hermione stepped back, satisfied.

"Nothing in particular," she replied innocently, "I just threatened to his... wand."

Draco got the feeling she didn't mean the one with the unicorn hair core, although both could make 'magic' happen.

Not five minutes later, a whole rush of Ravenclaw students came over to sign the parchment.

"Guess my way is more effective." Hermione said smugly.

"Unless they just heard Draco Malfoy was still shirtless..."

"I doubt it."

"Actually," a girl called, "I did."

Draco grinned. Hermione scowled.

"Okay then," Hermione called out to the crowd, "Who's here because of my doing?"

Rather a lot of people timidly raised their hands, looking quite scared. She turned to Draco and grinned triumphantly.

"Who's here because of me?" Draco said.

Even more people put their hands up and Draco smirked smugly.

"So who's here merely because they care about stopping the marriage law?" Hermione asked.

One or two people put their hands up and the rest of the crowd stayed silent.

"Ah well, we've got most of the school on here and father is getting some of his acquaintances to sign a separate one."

"And Harry got most of the Order and their friends to sign another one, so we should have rather a lot of signatures." Hermione said excitedly. Draco beamed, her excitement infectious. Her voice became quieter, filled with thought, "But how are we going to present them to the Ministry?"

"I think I've got an idea." Draco said thoughtfully.

#

The lift took them quickly down as they began to, with great difficulty, pin their badges to their clothes. Hermione, Draco, Theo, Lilith, Harry, Ron, Ginny and Justin were all crammed tightly into the phone box as they descended down into the Ministry. As it arrived, they all stumbled out onto the floor in front of them, gasping for breath.

"I should not have let the boys state our business." Hermione groaned as she glanced at her badge; _Trying to stop some vomit-worthy law._

"Ah well." Lilith sang, pulling her by the hand in what she thought was the right direction.

"This way." Draco said, taking Hermione the correct way. Everyone followed the two in front and soon they were in the centre of the Ministry.

Everybody took their cue from Draco and simultaneously dropped the Decoy Detonators on the floor where they immediately ran away and exploded. A few moments later a flurry of Ministry officials came running through the doors on either side of them.

"What on earth is going on in here?" Someone cried.

"We would like to express our negative thoughts over the new marriage law." Hermione stated, using her wand to send over the several pieces of parchment containing over a thousand signatures.

"You cannot be serious!" The woman cried out again, taking the parchment and looking through them. Her voice lowered and she muttered something that they couldn't hear.

"We'd appreciate it if you got someone with the authority to change this." Harry said clearly.

There was a quick scurry as they sent people to do what he had said; he didn't abuse his hero status often but when he did, he got results.

A couple of awkward minutes later, a scared looking intern gestured for them to follow him. He showed them to an extravagant office and pointed for them to sit in the, obviously, quickly created chairs.

"Edward Grant, temporary Minister for Magic." The intern introduced grandly, opened the door and allowing a middle aged man with an aggressive expression enter the office.

"Temporary Minister for Magic?" Harry asked in shock, "But where's Cornelius Fudge?"

"Fudge is currently on medical leave and holidaying in France." Grant said shortly, sitting behind his large oak desk.

"_**Medical leave**_?" Several of the party repeated, staring at each other in shock.

"How long for?" Hermione asked.

Grant consulted a large leather book in front of him. "It appears he has been away for five months now."

"Five months..." Hermione glanced at Draco who, she was pleased to see, seemed to be thinking the same as her.

"What?" Harry and Ron asked simultaneously.

Simply, Draco said, "That means he wasn't here to announce the law."

"He wouldn't have been here for most of the arrangements." Hermione added.

"Enough!" Grant shouted, banging his fist on the desk. "The law is final."

"But... sir," Hermione said the word tightly, as though she didn't feel he deserved the title, "No one is happy about the law, we have plenty of signatures to prove that, if we could just _**speak **_to Fudge..."

"Not possible." He snapped. "I don't appreciate your tone young lady, I do not care whether you are a war hero, you should respect your elders."

"Excuse me," Draco snarled, "_**I **_don't appreciate _**your **_tone, you will have her respect when you _**earn **_it."

"Maybe, Mr Malfoy, you should consider leaving the defending of this lady to her fiancée, and pay more attention to your own."

"And maybe you should stop changing the law by any means possible and accept that we will put a stop to your nonsense, I _**will **_be marrying my Veela mate and my peers _**will **_be marrying whomever they choose." He stood up with such a force, he knocked his chair to the ground where the wood split and sent splinters across the floor. "Good day _**sir**_." He grabbed Hermione's hand and stormed out of the room, the others trailing behind glaring at Grant.

"So do you really think he changed the law by any means possible?" Hermione asked when she finally got her breath back and the others had caught up.

"Harry!" A voice called. "I heard you were ordering people around in the Ministry!"

"Tonks!" Harry cried happily, "It's been too long!"

Brushing off his greeting, the pink haired women burst into speech, "Ever since you sent that petition round, which, by the way, I even got Teddy to sign-"

Everyone made appropriate sounds of cuteness and she continued with her story, "I've been doing some subtle digging round here." She gestured to the Ministry around them. "All of the officials that I have spoken to, in the strictest confidence of course, have told me that they don't want the law, some have children close to coming of age and they certainly don't want them paired off to some stranger."

"So you're saying there's something dodgy going on?" Ginny asked excitedly.

Tonks nodded quickly. "No one has seen Fudge for several months, the papers said that he made the announcement but he didn't, only a few people were in on it and it was actually Edward Grant who did it. I don't think Fudge would want this, his niece is in seventh year, you might know her, Lisa Turpin?"

Lilith nodded, "Yes, she's in my house, bit obnoxious but has a good heart."

"See, why would Fudge want his only niece paired off at such a young age? I've got to go now," Tonks said quickly, "But I think that if you lot talk to a few more people, you might be able to put a stop to this. I'm sorry, I can't risk my job any more, I need it to support Teddy."

"You've done more than enough Tonks, thank you so much." Harry said genuinely, "I'll pop round in the holidays some time."

She smiled at him and turned around to leave, somehow tripping over thin air.

"So in answer to your question Hermione, yes, I think he's changed the law by any means possible."

**#**

**I have no idea what time of year this is by the way... I'm just sort of winging the story :)**

**Unfortunately, I might not be able to update as much (although I will try my hardest because I love writing for you guys!) as I start college tomorrow! Wish me luck! :P xoxo**


	11. Chapter 11

**So sorry for the long wait! College work has taken over my life :( but thank you for those who wished me good luck! And those who have been reviewing, I appreciate you all!xoxo**

**#**

"Please let me handle this one!" Ginny whined, pouting towards Hermione as they prepared to knock on an office door.

"No." She replied sternly. "I saw you practising hexes yesterday."

The Christmas holidays were upon them and they had been busy since day one; drawing up plans and preparing to talk to the individual officials. Hermione, much to Ginny's displeasure, had been handling most of the ones on their list. So far, they had discovered that the the officials had not wanted the new law change, but obviously that didn't represent the entire Ministry. Did it?

"Right," Hermione said as she knocked on the door, "This is the last one on the list then we'll go and meet up with the others."

"Enter."

She took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping inside the cramped office space, Ginny close behind her.

The woman looked up, bemused at the two girls. "How can I help you?"

"If it's all right, we would like to ask a few questions."

Still wary, Madam Kramner gestured to the chairs in front of her desk. They smiled at her and sat down.

"We were wondering about this marriage law..." Hermione began slowly.

Madam Kramner's eyes immediately narrowed and she clasped her hands together on the desk in front of her.

"I am Hermione G-"

"I know who you are. Who doesn't know the war heroes? I just don't see why you're here asking questions."

"I'm here because I need to change the law." Hermione stated.

"We know you didn't want this." Ginny said quietly, not quite knowing that what she was saying was true, but deciding to trust her instinct.

Madam Kramner sighed but said nothing.

"I _**need **_to change it, I am a muggleborn and myself and my Veela mate have been paired off with different people." She watched the older woman's expression carefully, watching for signs of compassion.

She looked confused. "_**Veela**_? I didn't think there was any Veela blood in this generation, if that had been noted he wouldn't have been paired off at all. This could _**kill **_you both!"

Hermione nodded.

Silence, and then, "I didn't want the law. Edward Grant came to visit us all separately as soon as Fudge went on leave, I always thought it was suspicious but he said that everyone else had agreed to it and wanted it, so I didn't say anything negative. I was reluctant to put my name down though and that was when he said..."

"He said what?" Hermione pushed gently when it appeared she would say no more.

"I-I don't think I should say."

"Please Madam Kramner, this is vital." She insisted.

"He said that there were a hundred other people who wanted my job, who could do a better job than me and would actually agree to sign."

"He blackmailed you to sign then?" Hermione glanced at Ginny who was nodding.

"Yes. What exactly are you planning to do with this information? Do not get me into trouble girls, I am trusting you."

"Madam Kramner, you are the fifth person that Ginny and I have been to who signed the law, you have all said similar things and I am willing to bet that the others have found the same with the rest."

Her eyes widened, giving her aged face a childlike presence. "He blackmailed everyone? But what about Fudge?"

"That's what we want to know. According to a couple of people we've spoken to, he left with no warning, all anyone knows is that he's in France."

"That's what we were informed, we were told not to tell anyone. I don't even think the public know that Grant is filling in."

Hermione nodded in understanding. "Thank you for your time Madam Kramner, we _**will **_put a stop to this."

She shook both their hands and said quietly, "Please do, I don't want the next generation created without love."

They left the woman in her office and closed her door gently.

"Everyone has said the same, Grant threatened them all. But how do we stop this?"

Ginny shook her head sadly. "I don't know."

#

"You're too skinny boy." Mrs Weasley said sternly. "And far too pale, you don't even have the red hair excuse."

"I'm... sorry?" Draco said, not used to Mrs Weasley's full on mothering. He didn't notice the others hysterical silent laughter.

"It's all right dear, we'll sort you out soon." She patted his cheek and began piling six or seven sausages on his plate.

As she turned to get the bacon, he turned to Hermione and whispered, "Am I expected to eat all of this?"

Hermione laughed softly and shook her head, patting his hand lightly. He sighed with relief and looked back at the others.

"So what's the plan?" He asked, cutting up his food and placing it delicately in his mouth.

"No. No plan making at the table, that's living room talk." Mrs Weasley insisted, loading all their plates with more food.

Chastised, Draco put his head down and ate the majority of his food.

After they had all eaten their fill, Ron, Ginny, Harry, Hermione and Draco moved into the living room. They settled into the chairs with their parchment and quills, ready to think of their plan.

They pondered in silence for ten minutes before Ron spoke up, "It's simple. Veritaserum ."

The others thought about it for a moment.

"That's genius Ron!" Hermione exclaimed.

"But how and where?"

"Obviously in front of all the Ministry. Oh, and Rita Skeeter, but I don't know how." Hermione said.

"Wow, Hermione's wanting to involve Rita Skeeter? Things must be tough." Ron said with a smirk.

She scowled at him and continued to speak, "How are we going to give him the Veritaserum though?"

"Cup of tea?"

"Ron that is your answer to everything!" Harry exclaimed, looking at his friend in amusement.

"But it could work..." Draco said slowly, seemingly reluctant to agree with him. Ron beamed.

"Someone could pretend to be a new secretary!" Ginny said excitedly, "And could take it to him!"

"See! I have good ideas." said Ron proudly.

Hermione's face fell. "But we're all too well known."

"What about Lilith?" Ginny suggested.

"I'll go and owl her now, see if she'll be up for that." Hermione said quickly, standing up and grabbing her parchment, quill and ink and heading up the stairs to find an owl.

The others stayed silent as she disappeared upstairs, her light footsteps became gradually quieter. Draco looked around the room, thinking of something that he could say to break the awkward silence. Ron coughed.

"So... do you think it will snow this week?" Harry asked.

"Hope so."

"Me too."

Silence.

They were all very grateful when they could hear Hermione coming back down the stairs, they looked up happily as she entered the room. Stopping in shock, she looked at them warily as though she thought that they had been plotting against her.

"I sent her Pig. In hindsight, I should have used a bigger owl, got the reply quicker, but ah well."

"Okay."

"Anybody want a game of Quidditch?" Harry suggested.

Everyone, except Hermione of course, chorused a relieved 'yes' and traipsed outside into the cold, prepared for a lengthy wait for Lilith's reply.

**#**

**I really don't like this chapter, it seems rushed and short. Actually, the whole story seems rushed but I just wanted to get this chapter out for you, please forgive me!**

**Again, sorry about the wait, college is so hectic, but I am enjoying it :)**

**I hope all my amazing readers are happy and well, thank you for reading :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Again, I am so sorry for the long wait! Thank you faithful **_and _**new reviewers, I love you all.**

**#**

"No Teddy! You do not use Uncle Harry as a climbing frame!"

Harry grinned sheepishly at Tonks and stopped encouraging Teddy from the corner of his mouth and placed his godson on the floor.

"Come on you three!" Mrs Weasley called, "Everyone is waiting for you!"

Tonks picked up her son and together, they made their way to the enchanted tent in the garden of the Burrow where a plethora of people were gathered together ready to start their Christmas dinner.

Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy sat awkwardly as Draco chattered happily with Hermione and Theo, every so often looking on fondly.

"Okay now, you can all tuck in, there's enough for everyone." Mrs Weasley said happily, truly excited to have not only her own family around her, but many others too.

There was silence for a while as everyone stuffed themselves with the delicious food, even Narcissa managed seconds, and slowly people began to stop eating until only Ron was still chewing.

Mrs Weasley began to stand up and clear away the plates (at which Ron growled) until the others interjected and offered to take them away instead. She gratefully sat back and sipped some of her eggnog contentedly.

"This was nice." Draco said to Hermione as they carried a pile of plates into the kitchen. "It was strange having such a busy Christmas, I liked it."

Hermione smiled brightly at him. "I'm glad. How was meeting my parents?"

She laughed as his eyes widened.

"Anyone would think we had got married over the past month and you were carrying my child!"

Hermione giggled. "Surely they weren't that bad?"

He nodded. "Your dad threatened me with a long wooden stick."

"But dad doesn't have a wand." She said in confusion.

"It had thorns on it!"

"Ahhhh. The peasant stick."

"Your dad has a peasant stick?" He looked mildly impressed before realising that he had been threatened with it which was when he paled once again.

They stacked the plates up next to the sink and rested against the counter.

"So have you spoken to Lilith yet?" Draco asked. Pig has somehow got confused and ended up at Fred and George's place so they had just Floo'd her asking her to visit for Christmas.

"Not yet, but she shouldn't be too hard to convince, right?"

"Probably not, just stress how much this could help us."

Hermione nodded at him with a smile. "And if it does help us?"

"Then chances are we will beat this law!"

"But what about after that?" She looked him straight in the eye.

"What do you mean?"

"Where do we go from there Draco?"

"Erm... I don't know." He admitted. "What do you think?"

"I don't know either. We have got so close recently, I never thought that we could be this close, but I'm not sure whether I can just make that leap from friends to Veela mates for life. I-"

"We'll take it slow. Hermione, I am going to fall _**so**_ in love with you, it already hurts when I'm not with you, but I know that it will take a bit of time. We were enemies for most of our school life and I know that it's so cliché for enemies to fall in love, but we were destined to be together, it was written in the stars, predicted in numerology, foreseen in a crystal ball, we were meant to be together and I will do whatever it takes to make sure that you're happy whilst we are fulfilling our destiny."

"Bloody hell. We leave you alone for two minutes and you make Draco an emotional wreck."

"He can tell one hell of a speech though."

"Ron! Ginny! Language." Mrs Weasley called before turning to Hermione and Draco who stood blushing by the counter. "That was very sweet though dear, I'm looking forward to the wedding speech."

"Oh no." Hermione cried, spotting her dad walk quickly away from the kitchen. "Mrs Weasley, you shouldn't have mentioned 'wedding', dad's gone to fetch his peasant stick!"

The kitchen door opened once more and Jean Granger walked in. "Hermione dear, why is your dad muttering about 'bashing little Goldilocks little pansy head in with the good old faithful stick'?"

Draco visibly gulped and Hermione hid her grin whilst patting his arm reassuringly.

"Why's everyone crowded in the kitchen?" Lilith asked, squeezing into the packed room and standing by Hermione.

"Oh! Lilith, can I have a word?"

"Yeah... sure."

Hermione and Lilith made their way back into the living room and settled on the couch opposite the fire.

"What's up?"

"We've got a favour to ask of you."

Lilith raised her eyebrows, inviting her to continue.

"We need to give Grant Veritaserum but he would recognise us immediately..."

"So you want me to do it? Sure."

"You're just agreeing like that?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Course I am. I heard your dad muttering about the peasant stick, you and Draco must be getting close and I am not going to marry the boy that my friend falls in love with."

Hermione blushed. "I just hope we can stop this stupid law."

"We will. Now let's go and enjoy Christmas."

##

The next few days after Christmas were filled with sleepy silences, expect of course for Fred and George's occasional explosions, turkey sandwiches and snowball fights.

A couple of days before they were due back at school, they decided to put their plan into action.

Before realising one little flaw.

"We don't have any Veritaserum." Hermione said slowly, as Lilith stepped out of the fireplace.

"_**We**_ do!"

The kitchen occupants looked at each other blankly, wondering who could have said that.

"Us!"

Everybody looked up through the open kitchen door and saw Fred and George sitting on the stairs, Extendable Ears in hand.

"One second." One of the twins promised. He disappeared with a crack and reappeared a moment later, a small bottle in hand. They walked into the kitchen and Fred passed Hermione the potion.

"Why do you have Veritaserum?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I think the bigger question is why they were listening to our conversation." Draco added, eyeing the Ears suspiciously.

"We're curious." They shrugged, in answer to both.

"Well go then." Ron said rudely. His brothers ruffled his hair before closing the door behind them with a bang, they always did like loud noises.

"Right," Hermione said once they had gone, "let's take a look at you." She turned to Lilith and looked at her with a critical eye.

"What are you looking for?" Lilith whispered.

"...I don't know. To see whether you look like a convincing secretary?" She suggested, lifting her right shoulder closer to her ear.

"Her robes need to be shorter and her hair pulled up more, oh, and she needs glasses." Ron said.

"Ron, they don't want your dirty idea of a secretary!" The twins shouted through. Ron flushed violently and he scowled in the direction of the the door.

"As disturbing as that is," Draco shuddered, "He's right."

After a few moments (and several 'are you done manhandling me?' off Lilith) they were finally satisfied with her secretary look.

"Now remember, tea first then lett-"

"_**Yes**_, Hermione, I remember."

Then, they Floo'd separately to the Ministry and Lilith shot off to Grant's office, charmed tea in hand.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"She will be fine."

They looked around and spotted Rita Skeeter lounging around with a bored expression. She had received a rather intriguing tip off but as of yet, nothing intriguing had happened at the Ministry.

Meanwhile, Lilith was walking as quickly as possible without spilling the precious tea. She finally reached Grant's office and took a deep breath before knocking on the door. There was a stifled 'enter' and she turned the doorknob.

"And you are?" He said, looking up from the parchment on his desk.

Her mind raced, why did she not think of a name beforehand? This caused for some good old Muggle ways. "I'm Taylor Swift, secretary. I brought you a cup of tea." She placed the cup on his desk, right in front of him.

"What's your blood status?"

"Half blood."

"Hmm." He picked the cup up and took a swig before going back to his parchment. "You can go now."

"There was also this Mr Grant." She waved a small scroll and passed it to him. "Goodbye Sir." She closed the door behind her and allowed herself to breathe properly. Lilith made her way back to the others quickly, pulling the clips from her hair and allowing it to fall down her shoulders.

"Did you do it?" Hermione asked excitedly as she arrived back.

Lilith nodded. "He should be coming round about... _**now**_."

#

**I know, I know, my writing isn't the best standard that it could be. I just have no ideas and I'm always so drained from college. I will try to improve this story but if I can't, thank you for reading this far :) **

**Completely off subject, has anyone heard You Me At Six's new album, Sinners Never Sleep? I love it, I think it's absolutely amazing! xD**

**Thanks for reading, hope life is treating you all well, much love! :D**

- wekfnwekonf


	13. Chapter 13

**I am ever so sorry that I haven't updated :( college is hectic! No excuse, I know. Check out the bottom of my page for updates by the way. Anyway, here's the next chapter!**

"Oh my goodness, what if – what happens – it might not work!" Hermione cried as Grant slowly came in to view. Draco placed his hand on her arm in what he hoped was a soothing fashion. It wasn't. She slapped him away rather forcefully and glared at him until he thought her eyes were going to pop.

"Ow."

"Shut up and do your job."

Ron and Harry smirked at each other as he immediately stood up and cupped his hands around his mouth, ready to call out.

"Oi Grant!"

Every eye shot towards him, including Grant. He raised his eyebrows at Draco as if daring him to say another word.

"Where's Cornelius Fudge?"

"France." Grant answered straight away.

"Why?"

"Because I sent him there." His eyes widened at the words that had just come out of his mouth. Rita Skeeter instantly became interested.

He began to turn away, as though to escape the mortifying situation. Hermione raised her wand, muttering "Incarcerous" with pleasure and watching the ropes bind around Grant.

"Why?"

Unable to stop himself, he answered, "Because I was sick of his pathetic leadership, our world needs more forceful laws."

"Like the marriage law?"

"That was the main reason that I had to be in power."

All of the surrounding people were listening intently, similar looks of horror evident on their faces.

"But why? Why do you want this law? It's hurt so many people."

"Why should I care? The Death Eaters killed my wife, why should anyone else marry the one they want?" His voice became thick. "They killed her because she was a half-blood, most Death Eaters were half-blood for God's sake! So why kill my wife?"

"And now you're going to ruin the lives of thousands witches and wizards? Because of your horrendous past?" Hermione asked, moving closer to Draco.

"Yes."

"But you can't!" Hermione cried. "You – it's just wrong!"

Draco put a comforting arm around her and this time she did nothing to stop him.

Grant fell silent, his expression unreadable. "Why did I tell you all that? Was it the tea?"

Hermione nodded, blinking away the tears that had appeared in her eyes.

"That's illegal administration of Veritaserum." He said quickly.

"Wizards are well within their rights to administer Veritaserum for reasons to benefit the wizarding community and to further understanding of official affairs." A voice said from the crowd.

Everybody turned to watch Kingsley Shacklebolt emerge from the mass of people.

"And I certainly believe that these young adults has good reason to give it to you."

Hermione and Draco smiled gratefully at him.

"Shacklebolt, stay out of this." Grant warned. "They're just stupid kids."

"These 'kids' have already spoken to half of the Ministry and discovered that you have blackmailed most of them, they have petitions against this law and they have just made you reveal that you have an ulterior motive, they are anything but stupid and I think that they have successfully put the wheels in motion to abolish this law."

The group exchanged gleeful looks, not even caring that Kingsley somehow knew more about their actions than anyone else.

"Thank you for your actions, you have helped this community so much and we really do appreciate it. You are all a credit to the wizarding world."

Hermione and Harry blushed whilst Ron and Draco grinned smugly, looking around in a proud fashion.

"So I think it is safe to say that Edward Grant will no longer be in power." Harry said cheerfully. "Kingsley, do you think that you would be able to get Fudge back soon?"

"Of course, we shall work on it immediately."

Harry beamed. "Good. Until then I think that Kingsley should be in charge. Any objections?"

If anyone did have any objections, no one would dare state them. Harry continued to smile as Kingsley looked shocked.

"So that's sorted. Sorry to have interrupted your day, we'll be going now." He gently grabbed Hermione and Lilith's hands (not noticing Draco's death glare) and lead them back towards the fireplaces. The group disappeared into the green flames, leaving behind a rather confused crowd.

"Well, that was most certainly worth my time." Rita Skeeter called, snapping shut her crocodile-skin handbag and gathering together her robes. "Good day to you all."

#

"Argh! I'm so happy!" Hermione cried, dancing around the Burrow like a maniac.

"Me too!"

"And me!"

"I just can't believe that we just did that!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Believe it bitch!"

Everybody fell silent and turned to look questioningly at Draco.

"What?"

"Believe it bitch?" Hermione quoted.

Draco shrugged. "It's something I read in one of Theo's books."

"Theo has books that say 'believe it bitch'?" Hermione laughed.

"Yes, books that Draco said he would never mention in public." Theo said, glaring at Draco.

"You lot really do get distracted easily, don't you?" Harry said, "The law's changing, we've nearly won!"

They certainly weren't distracted from that for the rest of the day, many celebrations were held and several packs of Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-bangs were set off.

"I can't wait to get back to school and let everyone know." Hermione said sleepily that night as they all sat in front of the fire.

"Rita Skeeter was there, I think everyone will already know." Draco laughed softly.

"Shh, don't ruin my dream." Hermione said, pushing him away half heartedly.

"I think you need to go to bed." Draco said fondly, catching her hand and helping her to stand up.

"Don't treat me like a – like a -" she stopped to yawn, "child."

"Okay, I won't. Do you want to go to bed?"

"Ey up, no funny business in my room!" Ginny called, smirking at them.

Hermione tried to glare at her but failed miserably, allowing herself to be lead upstairs. Draco came down a minute or two later saying that she had stumbled into bed without even changing and was instantly asleep.

"Poor Hermione, she's been stressing about today far too much, it's taken it all out of her" Ginny replied.

"We probably couldn't have done it without her."

"Bloody hell Draco, that's an understatement." Ron exclaimed. "We needed her completely."

"Shh, don't ruin my dream."

"I think I might go to bed too." Ginny said yawning.

"Think I'll join you." Harry said.

"What?" Ron shouted.

"No! Not – I just meant I'm going to bed too!"

"Well this is awkward..." Draco said slowly, looking between Harry's flushing face, Ron's glare and Ginny's quick departure.

"I think I'm just going to go..." He swiftly left the living room and, unbeknownst to him, Ron glaring at Harry for a further ten minutes.

Every one of that group went to sleep with a smile on their face.

Mrs Weasley heard the last of them going to bed and rolled over to face her husband. "I'm so proud of them."

"So you should be Molly." Arthur said with a smile.

"I was terrified for my children."

"I know, as was I."

"They'll be all right now, won't they?"

The moon shone through the open curtain, highlighting the tears glistening in her eyes.

"Of course they will darling, they've got their choice back. Nothing will and nothing should ever stop them from following their hearts, it is, of course, the reason we have been put in this world."

"And it's things like that that remind me of how much I love you."

**#**

**I know, my story is rather rushed, I just hope you like it :(**

_**Three Notices (please read)!**_

**Although this story is not over yet, it won't be too long so I was wondering whether anyone had any ideas for another fanfic that they don't mind sharing? :)**

**I really am sorry about how little I am updating, I just never really have time, although it is now half term so I should be able to write a little more than normal. I do hope that you continue reading.**

**Constructive criticism really is welcome, I probably won't like it but I know that it will help my writing improve and that is the reason that I signed up to fanfiction, for my writing to improve! :)**

**p.s. I'm going to see You Me At Six next year for the second time, excited is not the word!**

**sorry for the long AN :P**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thank you for all of your story ideas! They're all really good, I just wish I could write all of them :D **

**And thank you to everyone who has reviewed/favourited/alerted this! I know that it is not my best work but I really do appreciate everyone! :) xoxo**

**Another chapter for you!**

**#**

"There he is."

"Oh my God."

"I can't believe what he did."

"He's amazing!"

Harry walked through the train corridor trying to ignore the whispers. Did people not realise that he wasn't alone that day? Obviously not.

He reached the compartment that he was sharing with the others and cracked open the door, sliding in. Hermione was once again reading Rita Skeeter's article.

_**Ministry Mess!**_

_Wizards and witches from all over Britain have been complaining about the marriage law ever since it was announced by 'Cornelius Fudge'. However, as Harry Potter the young wizarding hero revealed, it was not Cornelius Fudge who made this announcement, it was in fact Edward Grant. _

_Edward Grant is a pure-blood wizard whose half-blood wife was tragically killed by the Death Eaters. He took it upon himself to torture all of the pure-bloods and muggleborns in Britain with this law which would force them to make half-blood children. Perhaps it is symbolic but excuse me if I do not see the romance, it just seems rather cruel to me._

_Kingsley Shacklebolt is currently acting as Minister for Magic and is searching for Fudge who Grant decided to send away. The law is set to be abolished and Edward Grant is currently being held... _Rita Skeeter article cont. page 4

"I could sing right now!" Hermione cried, hugging the paper close to her chest.

"Never thought I'd see the day that Hermione was singing Rita Skeeter's praises." Ron laughed.

"But she didn't even mention you lot!" Harry said in annoyance.

Hermione shrugged. "It was to be expected, you're much more fun to write about. Who cares? The law's getting abolished!"

"Stop bouncing!" Draco complained with a laugh, placing his hand on her shoulder to try and keep her in her seat.

"Says the ferret!" She sang in response.

The entire compartment burst out laughing, except of course for Draco who sat in a sullen silence. Hermione continued to bounce, seemingly unaware of what she was saying.

"Hyper Hermione is funny." Ron sighed, wiping tears from his eyes.

"Hyper? Who's hyper? I like being hyper! Do you like being hyper?" Hermione asked, watching Ron and blinking far too much.

"Okay, hyper Hermione is scary." He amended, trying to back away from her without offending her.

Everyone's eyes shot up as the door slid open.

"Lavender!" Hermione exclaimed. She flew out of her seat and flung her arms around the scared girl.

Lavender patted her back awkwardly. "Nice to see you too Hermione, can we come in?"

"Of course you can! You and Justin are always welcome with us! Find a seat anywhere!" Her voice lowered to a whisper that, although she didn't realise, carried throughout the room, "I wouldn't sit on Draco's knee though, I think he's in a mood."

Lavender laughed as she saw Draco's sulky expression and pushed Ron, making room for her to sit down. Justin sat in the seat that Hermione had just vacated.

Hermione giggled. "That's my seat!"

"Oh! Sorry." Justin made to stand up.

"It's okay! I'll sit here." She dropped into the middle of the floor, crossed her legs and smiled up happily at everyone.

"So... was there anything you wanted in particular?" Harry asked after a moment or two of silence and everyone looking at Hermione.

Lavender's eyes snapped towards Harry and she looked confused for a second. "Oh yes! We wanted to congratulate you on everything!"

Hermione squealed. Everyone ignored her.

"Yeah, we're just so glad we're not being forced to marry now." Justin said. "But we did get a lot closer when we thought we had to."

Lavender blushed as Justin smiled at her.

"Awwwwwww, you guys are in love!"

"Shush Hermione." Draco said fondly.

"Who gave her sugar?" Lavender whispered, looking round accusingly at the others.

Draco guiltily raised his hand. "I thought she'd enjoy some muggle sweets that I found, turns out they're one of the only ones to still have this blue additive in."

"And of course, she's ecstatic about the article." Lilith added.

Lavender nodded in understanding, whereas Justin said, "You have blue sweets?"

"Yeah we do Justin! They're amazing! You should have some! Look at my tongue! It's bluuuuuue! We can be blue tongue buddies!"

"Malfoy, if you give those blue sweets to Justin, I will personally make sure that you will never sit comfortably on a broom again." Lavender said coolly, sending one quick, lethal look in Draco's direction. He gulped and nodded, shoving the paper bag into his robes out of Justin's reach.

"We should probably get going." Lavender said, standing up and taking Justin's hand. They smiled brightly at them (well Lavender smiled brightly, Justin grimaced, rather annoyed that he didn't get any blue sweets) and exited the compartment.

"We'll be at Hogwarts soon, we'd better get Hermione calm." Harry said wisely.

"Hermione," Lilith started sincerely, "I heard that McGonagall isn't going to be setting end of term tests any more."

"What?" Hermione cried in outrage. "That's preposterous, how are we supposed to know if what they are teaching us is going in?"

Lilith shrugged, "Just what I heard."

"I will definitely be having words with her."

"Mission accomplished." Lilith whispered to Harry.

The rest of the train journey passed with no incidents, Hermione was suitably calm (after yelling at Lilith for lying about the tests) and they entertained themselves with several games of exploding snap.

The train pulled into Hogsmeade and they filed onto the platform, making their way to the (unfortunately visible) Thestral drawn carriages.

"After you." Draco allowed Hermione to step in first and the others piled in afterwards. They began the bumpy journey up to the castle and were soon walking into the familiar building, anticipating the delicious meal that they were about to receive.

"Welcome back!" McGonagall called. "I trust you all had a lovely Christmas." She paused as there was a chorus of 'yes' from the array of students, "As you have most likely heard, thanks to a certain group of seventh years, the marriage law is set to be abolished!"

The Great Hall was awash with cheers and hand claps. Draco stood up from the Slytherin table and bowed, causing a great deal of laughter.

"Yes, thank you Mr Malfoy." McGonagall said lightly, she had become fonder of Draco over the past few months, most likely due to the magic ties he had with Hermione. "Now, I think it is time to eat!"

The food appeared on the gold plates in front of them and everybody tucked in happily (especially Ron of course).

#

The next morning Hermione had the shock of her life.

"Hermione!" Seamus called, catching the brunettes attention. "Harry asked me to tell you that they're sorry but he and Ron have already gone down to breakfast." He grinned to himself as though he was proud that he had remembered.

"...What?"

"They've gone down to breakfast."

Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened, Harry and Ron up _**early**_? She stood there for a good five minutes before Ginny jumped on her as a morning greeting.

Harry and Ron had indeed got up early, they had a purpose, a goal.

"Draco!" shouted Harry.

Draco stopped on his way to the Great Hall and looked questioningly at them. "Why are you two up so early?"

"We wanted to talk to you." Ron said.

"Well that sounds serious."

Harry replied, "We want to know your intentions with Hermione."

"That is serious. You want me to answer now? Like right now? Fine. I intend to protect Hermione, to spend my life with her, give her everything she could ever want or need." He paused before continuing, "But first, I intend to fall in love with her and to help her fall in love with me."

"You're not in love with her?" Harry asked in surprise, convinced by Draco's behaviour around Hermione, he was certain that he was.

"No, we've been too focused on getting rid of the stupid law. We knew that we wouldn't automatically be in love despite the Veela genes."

"We'll sort things out for you." Ron said beaming, feeling like he would be helping Draco and Hermione a lot.

Draco's eyes widened. "Why does that sound more like a threat than a favour?"

**#**

**Not such a long wait for this chapter :) hope you liked it :)**

**Constructive criticism welcome (I may not like it, but I do want it :D)**

**#**

**Does anyone have Twitter? Let me knowwwww :) not that I'm hinting or anything but I'm only 5 away from 50 followers :P**


	15. Chapter 15

**The characters are rather OOC by the way**

**WARNING - several uses of a swear word :O I know, I'm shocked too.  
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**#**

"...know you all believe that Mr Grant deserves his sentence, but you need to bear in mind that he is an ill man, he will be undergoing some treatment in St Mungos before his imprisonment." Kingsley Shacklebolt seemed to look every student in the eye, daring them to speak out against him. No one did. He continued in his deep, reassuring voice, "Regretfully, Cornelius Fudge has resigned from his post, without going into inappropriate detail, he does not feel as though he deserves the position any more. There will be a vote between all Ministry officials later in the week. Rest assured, all candidates wish to remove the marriage law, therefore, whoever is in power will abolish it."

The entire Great Hall cheered, including the younger students who didn't even know what was going on. No one resented the evening speech any more even if it did delay their food, they were too happy.

"I can't believe that it all happened so quickly." Draco said, simultaneously sitting at the Gryffindor table with Theo.

"I know." Hermione replied excitedly, "Three weeks! Not long at all considering all the paperwork there must be."

"True, but I mean everything to do with the law, not just the end. A couple of months ago, you were trying to get Lilith and I on speaking terms as we were having to spend our whole lives together, now we're good friends and I'm going to be spending the rest of my life with her friend."

Hermione blushed.

"I never thought that we could put a stop to this so quickly, I guess it just shows that there was something fishy going on." He concluded, ignoring her blush.

"I'm just glad that we put a stop to it." Ron said firmly. He looked over to Ginny he was sitting laughing with Colin. "It would have been so hard to see Ginny and Hermione forced into something they didn't want to do."

"That would have been hard for all of us." Harry said just as firmly.

Hermione smiled at Ron, placing her hand on his. "It would have been equally as hard to see you forced."

Ron laughed. "I'd have been fine, but you girls need all that lovey-dovey st- arrrggghhh!"

"Draco! I thought that you'd got passed all this!" Hermione cried, watching Draco launch himself at Ron, pushing him to the floor.

"One second Hermione." Draco panted, continuing to scrap on the floor with Ron.

"Impedimenta." Harry said almost lazily, flicking his wand at the pair on the floor. They began to slow down and Harry, helped by Theo, pulled them apart.

"Nice wand work there Harry." Theo said, setting Draco back in his seat.

From a couple of seats down, Ginny called loudly and cheerfully, "That's what she said!"

Ignoring Ginny, Hermione glared at Draco. "What was that?"

"You were holding his hand." He said indignantly, straightening his robes.

"Shut up and stop being such an arse! I will hold my friends had if I want to. Oh look! I'm holding his hand now!" She picked up Ron's hand and waved it in Draco's face.

"Hermione," Harry whispered, "I think he's high."

She stopped waving Ron's hand around and looked at Draco, his face had taken on a dreamlike expression and he was staring into space, not focusing on a thing.

"Draco?" Hermione asked tentatively, leaning towards him.

"You called me an arse."

"Oh silly us," Theo said with a grin, "we forgot that that is a legitimate reason to go psycho."

"Shut up Theo." His voice became a higher pitch, "Well at least _**like **_each other, if he stopped being such an arse."

Looking thoughtful, Hermione said, "Didn't I say that?"

"Yep." He replied, popping the p. "You were trying to convince Lilith to give me a chance."

Hermione smiled fondly. "And by trying to convince her, I found out that you weren't such a bad guy."

"Not such a bad guy? I'm totally awesome."

"Of course you are." Hermione laughed, shaking her head.

"I am. Look, I can do this." He proceeded to cross all his fingers on his left hand in one go.

"Oh that's just weird!"

Seeing that they were immersed in a conversation, Ron gestured for Harry and Theo to follow him out of the Hall.

"They think that they did that subtly." Hermione said with a laugh as she watched the three leave.

"I wonder why they left."

Worriedly, Hermione said, "I have no idea, I just hope it's not to do with us."

Draco paled (even more) as he remembered something that had happened three weeks previously. "Ron said that he would sort things out for me regarding us."

Hermione also paled. "That does not sound good. I am now genuinely scared for our lives."

"We'll get through this."

#

"Right, so do we all know what we're doing?" Ron asked, taking charge for once and loving it.

"Yeah. It's a good plan Ron, it'll definitely work." Harry praised, patting his friend on the back. Ron grinned proudly.

"Right, all this is happening this Saturday? And it's Tuesday today. Can we pull this off?" Theo said.

"Of course we can, I'm the Chosen One."

#

"Fancy going to visit Hagrid tonight?" Harry asked, as they ate on Saturday evening.

"We've had all day to visit Hagrid and you decide that you want to go tonight?" Hermione exclaimed, looking at him.

Harry shrugged. "I've not used my dad's cloak in a while, thought it would be fun."

"Sounds good, will we all fit under it now?" Ron said, looking thoughtful.

"Only one way to find out." Harry said cheerfully, tucking into his lamb chops.

Hermione rolled her eyes and continued to eat.

Later that night, after curfew, three very cramped seventh years crept through the corridors trying to keep their cries of pain quiet as they trod on each others feet.

"Why did I ever think that this was a good idea?" Hermione hissed as Ron stood on her foot again.

"You think we're finding this fun?" Ron snapped.

"Shush! I can hear something." Harry whispered, looking around him. They were stood outside the Great Hall and a faint light could be seen from underneath the doors.

"Is that music?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"I'm not sure." Harry began to lead the others in the direction of the Great Hall, gently pushing open the doors.

Hermione stopped in shock as she saw the Great Hall and Harry, Ron and Theo stepped out, leaving her alone with Draco.

"It's beautiful." Hermione breathed.

All of the house tables had somehow been moved to the sides and were stacked up, leaving a large open space in the middle. The Hall was bathed in a soothing blue light, emitted from hundreds of live fairies fluttering around, illuminating the night sky filled with stars. Bouquets of fragrant flowers were set around the Hall and soft music was playing strange box.

"Did you know that they were doing this?" Draco asked, stepping towards her and taking her hand.

"No, you?"

"No. Theo left a letter though."

"Oh?"

Draco led her towards a small table with two chairs and passed her the envelope.

_Veela, Veela Mate,_

_We hope that you don't mind us deceiving you like this, we just wanted to surprise you. We are fully aware that you won't fall in love immediately, you two are both so stubborn, but we want it to be as easy as possible. This is your first date. Next week you are going to Hogsmeade together. The week after... well we haven't thought that far ahead yet. Don't worry, you shouldn't get caught, we've cast all sorts of spells, but it's probably best if you're back before 3ish. Draco, don't be an arse. Hermione, don't be a know-it-all. _

_All the best,_

_Theo, Harry and Ron._

_Ps. no getting freaky, this is where we eat._

Hermione and Draco looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Draco offered his hand and said, "Hermione Jean Granger, would you like to dance?"

"Yes, yes I would." She took his hand and rested her head on his chest, swaying slowly to the music. "But never full name me again."

He laughed softly, "I shan't."

They danced in the same spot until the fairies flew to floor, their wings tired from flying. As their lights went out they realised that they should probably get going.

"How are we supposed to fix this?" Hermione asked in shock, looking at the Great Hall.

"We don't, we leave it." He picked up the letter and slipped it into his pocket. He took Hermione's hand and led her out of the hall. "Be careful on the way back, can't have you getting caught." He paused before leaning down and kissing her swiftly on the cheek. He stole away quickly, leaving Hermione confused about the past five minutes.

She finally came to her senses and hurried back to her dormitory.

**#**

**Thank you for reading! Hope you liked this chapter, I quite like the idea :) I've just read one of my favourite chapters in GoF, The Yule Ball, hence the chapter :P**

**oh my goodness, Jessie Cave (Lavender Brown in HP) retweeted my tweet on twitter! That won't mean much if you don't have twitter but it's a big deal for me :P Let me know if you have twitter! :)**

**ps. not proof read this, it's late, but I hope it's okay**

**HAVE A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  
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	16. Chapter 16

**Hope you all had a lovely, safe bonfire night! :)  
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**Hope you like this chapter! :) I stayed up until half 1 in the morning writing it for you all :P**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, I do not own the characters (no matter how out of character I accidentally make them), in fact, the only thing I do own is the order of the words, seeing as most ideas are usually already on fanfiction :)**

**#**

Early the next morning, way too early for someone who was out late breaking curfew the night before, a small red headed girl leapt onto Hermione's bed.

"What happened? What happened? What happened?"

Hermione opened her eyes groggily and stared at Ginny, trying to focus on her.

She continued to whine, "Hermione! What happened?"

"When?"

"Last night!"

Hermione dragged herself into the sitting position and rubbed her eyes. "Oh."

"Well?"

"It was lovely."

Ginny nudged her. "_**And**_?"

She smiled happily. "We just danced and he kissed my cheek."

Ginny, however, looked disappointed. "You didn't talk? That was it?"

"Yes. What's wrong with that?"

"Well, you've practically been together for a while now and all you did was dance?"

"I liked it." She pushed her covers back and swung her feet out of bed. "I'm off for a shower."

The bathroom door shut with a slightly louder slam than normal and Ginny watched her go in confusion.

"They honestly only danced?" Lavender asked in shock, moving towards Hermione's bed to sit next to Ginny, Parvati sitting on her other side.

"Apparently so." Ginny said slowly. "I think that we need to take charge."

"Agreed. Those boys don't understand a thing." Lavender added.

"We'll talk to them later today, change their plans." Parvati finished.

Later that day, when the boys had finally emerged from their beds, Ginny, Lavender and Parvati stormed towards them and pulled them to the greatest place to make plans. Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom.

"What do you want?" Harry exclaimed, glaring at the girls when they locked the door.

"Let us out!" Ron shouted.

Theo looked around the bathroom. "So I hear Moaning Myrtle's quite taken with Harry."

"We want to talk about your pathetic attempts of getting those two together." Parvati stated.

"There's nothing wrong with them." Harry said defiantly. "They both had a good time."

"Exactly, 'good', they need to have a great time and not just dance." Ginny explained.

"Well what else could they do, do you really want them doing it in the Great Hall?" Theo said seriously, looking her in the eye.

"First of all; ew. Second, _**we're**_ planning their next date."

Meanwhile, in the Great Hall Draco and Hermione looked around in confusion, looking for the others. Hermione spotted Lilith but saw that she was chatting with Padma so decided to leave her be.

"Where are they all?" Draco asked, walking over to Hermione.

"I have no idea."

"Ah well. Come on, you can sit at my table today." He grabbed her hand and led her towards the Slytherin table, despite her plentiful protests.

"I can't believe you're making me sit here." She whispered, noticing Pansy Parkinson's rather evil stares and Blaise Zabini's bemused glances.

"It'll be fine." He assured, brushing away her concerns with a wave of his hand. "Have some lunch."

"I don't trust them all disappearing." Hermione said, helping herself to scrambled eggs.

"I know, they're probably planning something."

"Well if it was like last night, it won't be too bad."

Draco looked at her and she blushed under his gaze.

"So you liked it last night?"

"It was beautiful, I like it when we don't feel the need to talk." She replied.

"Good. I thought that I was being silly for liking it so much." He laughed softly.

"You silly? Of course not."

"Hey, less of the sarcasm." He pushed her lightly.

"So what do you want to do today? Seeing as our friends have abandoned us."

"How about we go to the library?"

She beamed at him. "Sounds great."

They spent the rest of the afternoon in the library and only found the others in the Great Hall for tea, where their expressions were very similar to when McGonagall had yelled at them. When asked where they had been, they merely muttered a quiet 'busy' and stuffed their faces.

Hermione and Draco finally discovered where they had been the following Wednesday evening after spending several days wondering when they would be attacked with plans.

"Where are you taking me?" Hermione asked, trying to budge the magical blindfold but failing miserably.

Ginny slapped away her hands away and said, "Wait and see."

Eventually they stopped and removed the blindfold. Hermione span round and realised that Parvati and Lavender were with them.

"You can thank us later." Lavender said with a wink, handing her an envelope.

Confused, Hermione took the envelope and watched them leave the Charms corridor.

"You been brought here too?"

Hermione looked up and realised that Draco was standing not too far away.

"Yup. Do you have one?" She asked, gesturing to the envelope. He shook his head and she opened it.

She read it aloud, "_We've got a task for you today because your first date was so boring. You have to follow the clues and do which each letter tells you. Have fun! Love Lavender, Parvati and Ginny_." She pulled out a separate piece of parchment and also read it out, "_You're –_ they used to wrong 'your', must teach them the difference – _your first task is to tell each other a secret that no one else knows. The clue is 'give us a quid'._"

"A secret?" Draco asked with a laugh. "You go first."

She stayed silent for a moment, thinking carefully. "My Boggart has changed into a Thestral. I despise it, it reminds me of the death I've seen and the loved ones I've lost."

"And no one else knows that?"

She shook her head and he offered her his open arms.

"I know how hard it must have been for you, your eyes have already seen so much pain. It's all over now."

Hermione nodded into his chest, not trusting herself to speak. When she had composed herself she moved away slightly, saying, "Your turn now."

"I don't like chocolate."

Doing a double take, she exclaimed, "I pour my heart out and you say you don't like chocolate! How can you not like chocolate?"

He laughed. "I don't know! I just... don't like it, third year was difficult."

"About third year..."

"Don't worry, I was a prat and deserved that slap."

"Oh good, I've been thinking about that recently, feeling guilty."

Draco grinned, "Was a pretty good slap though. Now, what on earth does that clue mean? _Give us a quid_."

"Oh that's easy, it's by the lake." Hermione said immediately.

"How do you know?"

"Ginny was there when Harry was telling me a muggle joke 'What did the crab say to the shark? Give us a squid.' meaning quid which is muggle money." She explained.

Although clearly not understanding, he allowed her to lead the way to the lake.

Sure enough, there was a small envelope on the rock nearest the lake.

Draco picked it up. "_Ginny said that you would understand the clue, we hoped she was right. Your next task is to sing a song for each other. The clue is 'Hermione'. Much love_."

"Sing?"

"I'll go first this time!" Draco immediately started singing a Weird Sisters hit and dramatically performing the words with his hands.

Hermione cried with laughter, not that he had a bad voice, merely the fact that he put so much effort into his performance.

"Your turn." He said as he sat back down, out of breath and smiling.

"I – I can't sing."

"Of course you can!"

"I really can't, I'm awful!"

He pouted at her. "Please Hermione."

"Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you."

She began to sing a Taylor Swift song and gradually got a bit louder as she gained confidence. Upon finishing, she looked at Draco.

"Well... you did warn me."

"Hey!" She cried, hitting him on the arm.

"You weren't _**that **_bad but all I'm saying is, it's a good job you're clever."

"Oh you did not just say that!"

She launched herself at him and started pushing him whilst giggling. He tried to catch her hands but always missed.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry!"

She stopped playfully attacking him and looked at him, panting. "Apology accepted."

"Good. Now let's go to the library."

"The library? What about the next clue?"

"That is the next clue 'Hermione', how could it not be?"

Seeing that this was true, they made their way to the library and were accosted straight away by the librarian.

"Ms Granger." Madam Pince said, passing her another envelope and bustling away to attend to a pile of books.

"_We think that that clue was too easy, the next one's harder. But for now, your task is to go off separately and pick a book for the other to read (not now, but you do have to read it at some point) go on then, pick a book. Oh yes, your clue is 'couple of bananas'. Have fun_."

She looked up from the parchment to find that Draco had already gone. She headed to the book shelves and picked out her favourite book and made her way back to where they were originally.

"Here you go." They said simultaneously, swapping books.

They burst out laughing as they realised that it was exactly the same book.

"Your favourite book?" Draco asked, setting it down on a nearby table.

"Oh yes, yours?"

"Definitely."

"Well seeing as we've already read it, we won't need to take them out. Shall we look at the clue again?" Hermione asked, picking up the parchment. "'Couple of bananas'."

"Something to do with fruit?"

She raised her eyebrows. "A couple of fruit?"

"What fruit are there two of?"

"Maybe it's not _**two **_of them, maybe it's a pair! As in _**pear**_, the kitchens!"

"You're a genius."

Hermione winked at him. "I hope you're using the correct 'you're' there."

"I wouldn't dare use anything else."

When they arrived at the kitchens, they were greeted happily by Dobby who led them to a small table in the corner of the room which was covered by a pretty tablecloth and decorated with a candle.

"Thank you Dobby." Hermione said happily, sitting in her seat.

"You is welcome Miss. Dobby is coming back with food now."

"I wish father hadn't stopped me from freeing him, he was always such a lovely elf." Draco said wistfully, watching him stagger back with the food.

"Here you are." Dobby set down two plates of spaghetti and meatballs ("I wish I hadn't shown Ginny Lady and the Tramp last year!" Hermione cried) and scurried away.

They ate their food in moderate silence and as soon as their plates were clean, Dobby scooped them away and dropped an envelope on the now clear table.

"I'm guessing that this is the last envelope." Draco said, slitting it open and preparing to read out loud. "_You've probably guessed that this is the last envelope. Well it is. No more clues but you have one more task... kiss_."

A pink tinge appeared on his cheeks and Hermione blushed brightly.

"Erm... I – well, if the parchment tells us to..." Draco said awkwardly.

"Yeah... I suppose we must – I mean, it's better – what's the w – y-"

Draco shut her up by pressing his lips against hers. As the shock wore off, Hermione closed her eyes and began to kiss him back.

A cough made them spring apart in embarrassment.

"Dobby is sorry to interrupt but Mr Theo told Dobby to say this if this situation was to happen '_don't get freaky where our food is made_'. Dobby is sorry, Dobby will be going now."

Hermione and Draco avoided eyes before looking at each other an laughing.

"Why does Theo always think we're getting 'freaky'? Hermione asked.

"Because it's Theo."

"Fair enough."

"Come on, I'll walk you back."

Hermione happily held his hand as they walked to the Gryffindor tower and as they kissed goodnight, she couldn't help but feel disappointed that she would not be able to see him until the next day.

By the time that Hermione had got up to her dormitory, Draco had already made it back to the dungeons. Unbeknownst to each other, when asked by their dorm mates how the last task was, they simultaneously replied 'magical'.

**#**

**How was it? I quite like this chapter :) I took the idea of the tasks from One Tree Hill but I hope that I made it my own :)**

**Erm... no news that I can think of except I made a twitter friend that it as obsessed with Harry Potter as me :P but that doesn't really count as news.**

**(Every time I tried to write 'news' then, it came out as 'noise' for some strange reason...)**

**Anyway... hope you keep reading and, if possible, reviewing! I appreciate you all so much :D xoxo**


	17. Chapter 17

**So very sorry for the long wait! :( College has been extremely hectic. This was going to be the last chapter but I think I can get one more out of this. **

**#**

"Those two are actually quite sickening."

"I know exactly what you mean."

"What are you two going on about?" Harry asked, looking between Ginny and Lilith, raising his eyebrows.

"Those two!" Ginny pointed over to the couple sitting close to next to each other. "They're sickly sweet!"

Harry glanced over to Hermione and Draco who were looking very happy together. They had officially been together for several weeks and were rarely seen out of each others company.

"What's wrong with that?"

"It's depressing." Ginny stated. "We want that."

"There's plenty of time for that-"

"Yeah Ginny," Ron added rather forcefully, "you're only sixteen."

"Well she's only seventeen!"

"And she's a Veela Mate, she's expected to be like that."

Hermione suddenly looked up from her table in the library and looked over to the small group and few tables away.

"Ah no, I think she heard us." Harry sighed.

"Nope, she's back to looking at him. See. Sickly sweet."

Harry rolled his eyes and went back to struggling with his Potions essay.

Hermione glanced back to them. "I swear they're talking about us. Look! They keep on looking at us."

"Just ignore them." Draco laughed. "We're just working."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at his arm snaked around her waist and their lax grip on their quills.

She laughed. "Oh yes, we're definitely working."

"Shhh." He pulled her closer and spoke softly in her ear. "Much rather be doing this than work."

Hermione giggled a rather un-Hermione-ish giggle and turned her head towards him.

"I'm going to have to go." Draco said regretfully. "Quidditch."

"Okay. I should probably get these essays done anyway." Hermione gestured towards the untouched parchment in front of her.

"Good, you can help me tonight." He stood up and kissed her gently on the head, picked up his bag and exited the library.

As soon as he'd disappeared, Hermione grabbed her stuff and scurried over to her friends.

"I need your help."

"Hi to you too Hermione." Harry laughed.

"Hi. I need your help."

"What do you need help with?"

"Will you teach me how to fly?"

Harry and Ron exchanged raised eyebrow glances before looking at Hermione and realising that she was serious.

"Why do you want to fly?"

"Because you lot and Draco are always going on about how great it is and I want to feel like a part of that."

"Aw, you are a part of it Hermione, you're at every game!" Ron said.

"Don't patronise me Ronald." She replied with a slap. "I want to be able to get on a broom and not be terrified."

"Of course we'll help you Hermione."

"Thank you Harry, tonight?"

Taken aback Harry agreed, asking, "Why couldn't Draco help you?"

"He doesn't know I want help, I want to surprise him."

So later that day, Hermione having told Draco that she was spending quality time with her friends and could not help him with his work, Hermione, Harry and Ron made their way towards the empty Quidditch pitch.

"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked.

"She made the mistake of mentioning work in front of Hermione." Ron said, "Hermione made her stay in to finish it."

Harry rolled his eyes and moved his broom off his shoulder. "First things first, what do you remember from our lessons?"

"Hold, mount, grip." Hermione recited.

"That's what she said." Ron laughed childishly.

"I really wish you hadn't taught him that." Hermione said disapprovingly to Harry. Harry looked sheepish and corrected Hermione's grip on the broom.

"Okay, you're secure now so you should be able to kick off."

Hermione stared at him in shock. "You expect me to 'kick off' just like that?"

"Well you'd be expected to just drive a car wouldn't you?"

Glaring at him, Hermione took a deep breath and kicked the ground.

"You have to kick a bit harder than that." Ron said as she stayed where she was.

"Fine!" Hermione stamped her foot on the ground and shot up into the sky, screaming all the way.

"We probably should have warned her about that." Ron commented.

"Hermione! You're supposed to steer!"

"Thanks for that Harry!" She roared back. "I'll bear that in mind when I'm thirty feet in the air."

"So stubborn."

Somehow, Hermione managed to bring herself back to the ground, windswept and unsteady on her feet.

"Maybe that's enough for tonight." Harry said uncertainly.

"Are you serious? We've been out here for two minutes!"

"Well it is starting to rain and anyway, you're not a natural li-"

Harry immediately elbowed Ron in the ribs to shut him up but Hermione was already glaring at him.

"I'll meet you back at the Common Room, I'm going to the library." Hermione said, drawing her cloak closer to her and storming off.

Ron glanced at Harry. "Whoops."

Hermione watched from behind the broom shed as her best friends left the pitch. As soon as they'd gone, she stole quickly round to the door, whipped out her wand and opened the shed. She picked up the broom that looked less splinter-y and made her way back to the pitch.

_I can do this_, Hermione thought to herself, mounting the broom once more and preparing herself for the kick. She inhaled deeply and stamped her heel into the grass. She shot into the air once again and tried to maintain control over the broom.

_Should have stayed on the ground, should have stayed on the ground, **should have stayed on the ground.**_

Hermione blinked away some of the fine rain that was collecting on her face and squinted around her. Her hands began to feel slippery against the wooden handle and her fingers were becoming slightly numb from the cold.

With only landing on her mind, she angled the broom down with a sharp pull and leant forwards.

Her long, drawn out scream was not heard by anyone as she fell off her broom and hurtled to the floor.

##

"Have you seen Hermione this morning?" Harry asked the moment he saw Draco. He paused before saying, "You okay mate? You don't look too good."

His usually pale skin was clammy and even whiter than normal and he seemed extremely unsteady on his feet.

"Why? Haven't you seen Hermione?"

"It's probably something that Ron said but we were just a little worried. Should you be in the Hospital Wing?"

"Have the girls seen her?" He asked quickly, his breath quickening and eyes darting.

"We've not asked, Draco it's probably nothing to worry about." Ron said quickly, looking at him worriedly.

"There's something wrong, I know there is. When did you last see her?"

Draco's panic rubbing off on him, Harry replied just as frantically, "She wanted us to teach her how to fly but it started to rain so we thought it was best if we came in, she said she was going to the library."

"We'll check there first then."

Draco set off at a run towards the library. Before Harry and Ron had even arrived, he came out panting and shaking his head.

"She didn't come in last night. We're going to the Quidditch pitch."

They began their frantic run again and didn't stop until they had reached it. They spotted Hermione immediately. Her small frame was crumpled in the centre of the pitch, her mass of damp hair framed her pale face.

"Hermione." Draco breathed, rushing over to her and resisting the temptation to pull her in to his arms. As he got closer he saw the huge purple bruise on the left of her forehead.

"Is she okay?"

"She's ice cold and unconscious! We need Madam Pomfrey!"

Ron immediately turned on his heel and ran to the Hospital Wing.

Harry waved his wand over Hermione, stuttering the reviving spell.

"Harry, why won't she wake up?"

"I don't know, I don't know!"

Draco grabbed her hand, gripping it tightly. The seconds ticked away whilst they waited for Ron to arrive.

"Draco you really don't look well."

Draco was swaying as he knelt next to Hermione and his eyes were unnaturally wide. As if in slow motion, Harry leaned forward with his arms outstretched as Draco fell backwards onto the grass.

"For God's sake, not him too!"

Heavy footsteps sounded and Ron called out, "Harry! What happened?"

Ron and Madam Pomfrey looked at the ground next to Harry and saw Hermione and Draco lying directly opposite one another, hand in hand.

"It must be the Veela in him." Pomfrey said. She waved her wand and conjured another floating stretcher. "We'll get these two healthy in no time, don't you worry."

"Should they be separated?" Ron asked Harry as the stretchers were taken away.

Harry shrugged. "Let's just cross our fingers and hope they're all right."

**#**

**Thank you for reading! Next chapter will be the last but hopefully I'll get that up soon.**

**If anyone understands what is meant by 'Pindippy' let me know! I have to say I'm obsessed :P**


	18. Chapter 18

_**LAST CHAPTER! D:**_

_**#**_

Hermione's eyes fluttered. Her fingers twitched. Her dry lips parted and she tried her hardest to speak the name of the person she needed to see.

"Hermione?"

Her eyes opened completely and she looked around to see who had spoken. Harry moved forwards with a goblet of icy water for her to drink from which she sipped from gratefully.

"What happened?" She croaked.

"Seems like you fell off your broom."

"How come you never end like me then?"

Harry and Ron laughed and she smiled at them.

"Where's Draco?"

Harry and Ron exchanged a look that did not go unnoticed by her and she repeated herself in panic.

"He... didn't like seeing you hurt. He kind of collapsed." Harry explained, glancing over to the bed he was in.

She immediately pushed back her cover and made to stand up. She instantly winced and clutched her side.

"Hermione, you can't just get up, you've got several broken ribs!"

"I don't care!" She cried, continuing to walk towards his bed. She pulled back the curtain and froze as she saw Draco lying lifelessly on the bed. Hermione hobbled over and sat in the chair next to the bed. "Draco, please wake up."

"Hermione, he's been unconscious for a while now." Ron said regretfully.

"Yes well I wasn't here. He has to wake up, I can't live without him." Tears formed in her eyes as he didn't open his. "Draco, wake up you idiot!" She exclaimed, clenching his hand tightly. She immediately felt a rush of warmth flood through her body and saw him jolt. His eyes flickered open.

"Draco?" She asked uncertainly.

His lips parted. "You should touch me more often."

"Excuse me?" Harry and Ron said simultaneously.

"Draco!"

He grinned mischievously and held her hand.

"Never do that to me again." She chastised.

"Says you! What were you thinking?"

She looked at him sheepishly. "I was doing it for you."

"Next time, ask me to teach you instead of those buffoons."

"Hey!"

Ignoring Ron and Harry's annoyed outbursts, he continued, "Seriously, never do anything like that again, I thought I'd lost you."

"I understand that Draco, but I like to do something different every so often, you can't just expect me to sit in the library everyday."

"Well you've done that for everyday of your life so far, why change?"

Harry and Ron gasped and exchanged worried glances. They feared for his life.

Pink splashes appeared on her cheeks. "For your information, I have not done that everyday. If you think that, you obviously don't know me as well as you thought."

"You're having a go at me because I don't know something about you? Calm down."

"Oh I am calm." She wrenched her hand away and, ignoring the pain in her ribs, walked quickly away from his bed.

"Hermione! Don't you dare storm off."

"I'll do whatever I like!" She shouted over her shoulder, not looking back.

Draco watched her leave then turned to Harry and Ron. "What just happened?"

"You got on the wrong side of Hermione."

"And it's probably best if you fix it soon."

Draco blinked in confusion as Harry and Ron also left him.

"Hermione!"

She continued walking, ignoring Harry's call.

"Hermione, slow down!"

"Bloody hell Hermione, you've broken your ribs, stop walking!" Ron shouted.

She began to slow down before gradually stopping and looking back at them.

"Come back and take your potion." Harry said softly.

"I'm not going back in if he's there." She replied stubbornly.

Seeing that she was sticking to her words, Harry made his way back to the Hospital Wing and had a quick word with Madam Pomfrey, coming back with Hermione's foul smelling potion.

"You're to take this and sleep." He ordered, taking her arm and walking to the Gryffindor tower, Ron beside them.

Once Hermione was tucked up in her bed (which they had to take Ginny's word for), Harry and Ron went back to the Hospital Wing to teach Draco all they knew about getting back into Hermione's good books. It was going to be a short lesson.

The next morning, Hermione woke up to find Ginny sitting at the end of her bed knitting.

"Ginny, do stay up at night thinking of random ways to greet me in the morning?"

"Nope, but I think I will from now on."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "So why are you here in the first place?"

"Oh." Ginny looked surprised, as though she had forgotten her reason. "I wanted to know what's happened."

"Regarding?"

"Hermione! You have a potentially fatal fall, your boyfriend collapses because of it and now you're avoiding him! What's happened?"

"He insulted me."

"You've gone off in a huff, possibly putting his life in danger, because he insulted you?" Ginny cried.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at her. "Yes. He should know me better by now and that just shows he doesn't."

It was Ginny's turn to roll her eyes. "You're so stubborn."

"Oh I know."

"How are your ribs?"

Hermione blinked in surprise. "They're fine, I think the potion worked instantly."

"That's good then. Are you okay to come down for breakfast?"

"I suppose so, let me just get dressed." She pulled herself out of bed, slightly stiff, and made her way to the bathroom.

"Don't be too long!"  
>"I won't!"<p>

True to her word, Hermione was no longer than five minutes and they were soon making their way to the Great Hall.

"What on earth...?" Hermione breathed as soon as she saw the Gryffindor table.

Dotted as regular intervals, several dwarfs with golden wings and harps were dancing. As Hermione tried to adjust to the surreal scene that reminded her uncomfortably of Valentine's day second year, there was an unintelligible shout and as one the dwarfs burst into song.

"Won't you forgive me,

I'm begging you Hermione.

I'm sorry for calling you boring, you're not,

about you, I know a lot.

We'll work this out,

please don't pout.

Forgive me,

Hermione."

The Hall burst into applause and looked at Hermione expectantly. She stood there watching the closet dwarf in shock.

"Hermione?" Draco asked tentatively.

Her eyes snapped towards him. "What on earth is all this?"

He shrugged. "They said it might help."

"_**Who**_ said?"

"Harry and Ron."

"You took advice from Harry and Ron?" She exclaimed. They looked outraged but said nothing. The entire Hall said nothing.

"Well yes! They're your best friends."

"But when someone's advice is to hire singing dwarfs, you should probably question that. What were you? Drunk?"

"No. I've tried to apologise and all you do is throw it back in my face!"

"You apologised with singing dwarfs!"

"Hey!" The dwarf that Hermione had been staring at yelled. "Can we lay off the dwarfs? We all need to make a living."

The students around them laughed whilst keeping an eye on Hermione in case she flew off the handle at them too.

"I don't even know why I'm apologising, I did nothing wrong!"

Harry and Ron once again exchanged worried glances.

Hermione's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Fine." She span around on her heel and left the hall.

Draco sighed and gritted his teeth before following her out.

"Hermione!"

"What?" She snapped, without looking at him.

His voice softened as he heard the raw emotion in her voice. "Hermione."

Noticing the change, she turned around.

"Hermione, I really am sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. When you said the stuff about me not knowing you, it just made me think that it's true, we didn't speak for years so I actually don't know you as well as I think."

"Draco, I was being stupid, of course we don't know everything about each other! There are some couples who never find out everything."

He walked towards her and pulled her into a hug, whispering in her ear, "So, are we okay now?"

"I suppose so, just don't presume things again or start pointless arguments. Let's try and be a normal couple."

He smiled softly and lifted her chin up with his index finger. "Deal." He leant down and pressed his lips against hers, knowing that this would not be their last argument and things would never be normal for them.

Hermione smiled into his lips, her dreams no longer full of cruel husbands and lots of unhappy years ahead of her, but full of Draco Malfoy, the Slytherin Prince with a Gryffindor's heart.

_**#**_

_**Thank you so much for reading! I love all of my faithful/new readers and reviewers and I'm so grateful that you have read my story. I hope you enjoyed it, let me know what you thought or if you have any ideas that you think I could write :)**_

**Advice to you all, if you haven't heard the Ed Sheeran/Example Nando's song, go check it out (ignore the bad language and just marvel at how amazing it is).**

_To JK Rowling, thank you for giving me such a magical childhood, mischief managed._

_I am a girl from the Potter Generation, and I always will be._


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